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UNIVERSITY  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 
LIBRARY 


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SF 

271 

N54 


HAND=BOOK 


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CHEESE  MAKING, 


C3-EO_     IEj.     ZLTe^v^ELXj- 


PUBLISHED    BV 

THE    MICHIGAN    DAIRYMAN, 
GRAND    RAPIDS. 


ACKNOWLEDGMENT, 

Tl-janks  are  due  Messrs.  Huqter,  Walton  &.  Co.,  of  New  York; 
Childs  &.  Jones,  of  Utica,  and  D.  H.  Burrell  &.  Co.,  of  Little  Falls, 
N,  Y.,  for  sonqe  statistical  inforniatioq  contained  in  these  pages. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
MASSACHUSETTS 


\..^-. 


s 


,  Copyright  1S89, 

BY 

E.  A.  Stowe  &  Bro. 


Press  of 
Fuller  &  Stuwe  Co. 


PREFACE. 

This  little  work  on  cheese  manufacture  is  inscribed  to 
makers,  dealers  and  consumers,  in  the  hope  that  its  careful 
perusal  may  be  of  aid  to  one  and  all.  The  prestige  that 
American  cheese  holds  in  the  markets  of  the  world  has  been 
threatened  from  many  quarters,  but  we  who  inaugurated  the 
Cheddar  system  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  are  not  prepared 
to  succumb  to  competition,  however  sharp,  or  to  prejudice, 
however  strong.  American  cheese  will  hold  its  own  as  long 
as  it  has  a  square  quality  basis  to  stand  upon.  We  possess 
the  most  natural  and  privileged  dairy  regions  on  earth. 
Let  us  utilize  to  their  fullest  extent  the  great  advantages 
within  our  grasp.  Dairymen  have  of  late  been  struck  with 
consternation  by  the  ascendency  of  Canadian  cheese  over  the 
States'  product.  The  dairy  press  have  been  pounding  away 
at  the  gruesome  situation  so  vigorously  that  many  cheese  men 
have  been  frightened  into  the  belief  that  Canada  has  a  corner 
on  gilt-edged  quality  and  fancy  quotations  that  is  liable  to 
continue  indefinitely.  The  writer  has  no  such  apprehension, 
however,  and  sees  no  reason  why  an  American  cheese  should 
not  always  be  a  peer  of  the  best.  There  has  been  unanimous 
action  all  over  the  dairy  portions  of  the  Dominion  to  effect  the 
slight  advantage  they  now  hold.     If,  in  a  strenuous  endeavor 


to  improve  the  product,  our  friends  across  the  border  have 
succeeded  and  at  the  same  time  have  stimulated  us  to  a  like 
movement,  then  thanks  be  to  them.  Legitimate  competition 
aids  all  mankind. 

As  the  caption  indicates,  this  treatise  is  from  the  pen  of  a 
practical  maker,  who  analyzes  cheese  manufacture  from  a 
standpoint  of  practice  and  experience,  and  not  theory.  In 
elucidating  to  my  readers  the  fundamental  and  collateral 
fabric  of  milk  manufacture,  I  write  from  the  desk  of  a  cheese 
factory,  with  milk,  utensils  and  product  under  my  immediate 
and  daily  supervision.  In  these  pages,  I  shall  discard  every- 
thing theoretic,  and  base  the  whole  value  of  the  book  on  its 
practicability.  In  doing  so  my  constant  thought  shall  be  the 
elevation  and  supremacy  of  American  cheese  to  the  highest 
standard  attainable.  To  this  manual  I  especially  invite  the 
criticism  of  the  cheese  profession  in  general,  trusting  that 
it  may  be  a  convenient  book  of  reliable  reference  to  the  ex- 
perienced and  a  work  of  utility  to  the  novice. 

GEO.  E.  XEWELL. 

Leonardsville,  N.  Y. 


THE  FACTORY  BUILDING  AND  SITE. 


The  site  for  a  cheese  factory  should  be  a  well-drained, 
slightly  elevated  location,  convenient  to  a  copious  and  per- 
petual flow  of  water.  The  size  of  the  building  is,  of  course, 
to  be  measured  by  the  amount  of  milk  to  be  manufactured 
therein,  but  the  same  internal  arrangement  is  needed  alike  in 
both  small  and  large  factories.  The  building  should  rest  on 
a  substantial  stone  foundation,  with  a  free  circulation  of  air 
underneath,  and  a  complete  system  of  troughs  be  appendent 
to  carry  all  slops  and  whey  beyond  contaminating  distance. 
It  is  unnecessary  that  the  building  be  more  than  a  story  and 
a  half  high,  unless  the  upper  apartment  is  required  for  some- 
thinoj  besides  curinor  cheese.  The  make-room  should  be 
ceiled,  and  the  curing-room  plastered.  The  make-room  should 
be  in  the  front  of  the  building,  with  the  engine-room 
on  one  side  of  it  and  the  milk  delivery  window  on  the  other. 
The  curing-room  should  be  in  the  back.  Cut  off  all  super- 
fluous space  about  the  building  and  have  just  enough  room  to 
be  nicely  convenient.  Put  an  awning  roof  over  the  delivery 
window,  wide  and  long  enough  to  cover  wagon  and  team. 
Set  the  vats  broadside  to  the  milk  scales,  with  ends  towards 
the  outer  door.  The  platform  for  the  weighing-can  and 
scales  should  be  on  a  level  with  the  top  of  the  vats.  A  small 
oftice  desk  should  be  hung  to  the  wall  near  the  weigh  can, 
and  close  at  hand,  so  that  every  patron  can  see  them,  should 
be  arranged  the  cream  tubes,  and  lactometer.     Tin  utensils 


— 6— 

can  be  hung  on  pegs  in  the  wall,  and  a  stout,  low  shelf  in  one 
corner  will  support  rej:innet  and  annottoine  jars.  Have  the 
aisle  between  the  vats  wide  enough  to  permit  of  easy  passage, 
and  at  the  farther  ends  of  the  vats  sink  a  trough  into  the  floor 
to  carry  oif  the  whey.  Have  similar  troughs  under  the 
presses.  The  floor  should  be  full  enough  in  the  center  to 
gravitate  all  slop  toward  the  drains.  It  is  useless  to  have  a 
factory  floor  wet  all  of  the  time  ;  keep  it  dry  by  a  system  of 
neatness.  The  curing-room  should  have  an  outside  door,  from 
which  cheese  can  be  loaded.  An  adjoining  lean-to  shed,  for 
storing  empty  cheese  boxes  and  housing  fuel,  is  also  a  needed 
addition  to  the  building.  For  a  one  day  milk  delivery  fac- 
tory, no  ice-house  is  required.  Build  substantially  and  paint 
neatly,  aiming  to  have  a  model-looking  factory. 


Beginning  of  the  Ciieese  Factory  System  in  America. 


About  the  year  1853,  a  gentleman  residing  near  Rome, 
Oneida  county,  N.  Y.,  Jesse  Williams  by  name,  conceived 
the  idea  of  manufacturing  his  neighbors'  milk  in  common 
with  his  own.  This  is  the  first  known  instance  of  manufac- 
ture in  this  country  by  associated  dairies,  although  the  method 
was  previously  in  vogue  in  Switzerland.  I  quote  from  an  old 
report :  "It  required  a  long  time  to  create  the  demand  which 
now  exists  in  England  for  American  cheese,  and  to  Herkimer 
county,  New  York,  belongs  the  credit  of  creating  it  and  se- 
curing the  trade.  It  was  mainly  effected  by  bringing  a  high 
degree  of  skill  to  bear  upon  the  manufacture  generally,  thus 
producing  not  only  a  good  article,  but  uniformly  good,  or  as 
near  uniform  as  is  possible  when  made  in  different  families. 
Cheese  had  been  sent  abroad  in  small  amounts  for  many  years, 
but  when  once  by  good  quality  and  uniformity  it  had  secured 


— 7— 

a  firm  foothold,  the  amount  exported  increased  with  astonish- 
ing rapidity.  By  gradual  growth  it  had  come  to  nine  mil- 
lion pounds  in  1859,  in  1860  it  amounted  to  twenty-three  mil- 
lions, in  1861  to  forty  millions,  and  the  demand  and  supply 
have  steadily  increased  ever  since.  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact 
that  systematic  attempts  to  improve  the  manufacture  of  cheese 
began  lo  be  made  both  in  Somersetshire,  England,  and  in 
Herkimer  county,  Xew  York,  about  the  same  time ;  and  also, 
that  with  no  knowledge  on  the  part  of  either  of  the  progress 
made  by  the  other,  after  lengthened  experiments,  both  should, 
have  adopted  substantially  the  same  method  ;  for  it  is  a  fact 
that  the  Cheddar  and  Herkimer  methods  so  closely  resemble 
each  other  that  the  only  differences  of  any  consequence  are 
such  as  necessarily  grow  out  of  the  difference  of  climate. 
Their  process  differs  from  most  methods  mainly  in  two  par- 
ticulars ;  first,  in  employing  milk  which  has  attained  a  proxi- 
mate degree  of  acidity,  although  never  enough  to  be  sensible 
to  the  taste,  instead  of  such  as  is  quite  new  ;  and,  second, 
in  the  separation  of  the  whey  from  the  curd  by  causing  its 
contraction  and  precipitation,  instead  of  depending  mainly  on 
mechanical  means.  The  improvements  thus  introduced  with- 
in a  comparatively  receot  period  have  resulted  in  several  im- 
portant advantages  :  First,  a  material  reduction  of  labor ; 
second,  the  production  of  a  larger  amount  and  a  better  qual- 
ity of  cheese  from  a  given  quantity  of  milk  ;  and,  lastly,  the 
cheese  made  by  this  method  requires  less  time  for  the  ripen- 
ing process,  and  thus  is  sooner  ready  for  the  market. 


Utensils  Necessary  to  Stock  a  Factory. 


A  BOILER  of  moderate  capacity,  with  fittings  complete  ; 
milk  vats  with  steam  pipes  and  connections  ;  patent  galvan- 
ized iron  cheese  hoops  ;  a  gang  press  ;  weigh  can  with  large 
gate ;  milk  conductor  to   convey   the   lacteal   fluid   from   the 


— 8— 

weigh  can  to  the  cloth  strainer  over  the  vat ;  common  sized 
scales  that  will  weigh  at  least  600  pounds  ;  small  sized  scales 
for  weighing  cheese ;  two  curd  knives,  one  with  horizontal 
and  the  other  with  perpendicular  blades  ;  large  wheel  with 
crank  and  endless  rope  for  hoisting  milk  ;  two  stone  rennet 
jars  of  a  capacity  of  ten  gallons  each  ;  two  thermometers,  one 
for  the  make  and  the  other  for  the  curing-room;  jar  for  keep- 
ing annottoine  ;  syphon  and  tin  strainer  for  drawing  whey 
from  the  vat ;  a  self -salting  curd  mill — a  curd  mill  is  now  in- 
dispensable to  a  factory,  and  a  self-salting  one  is  indispensable 
where  only  one  man  is  employed  ;  rubber  mop,  curd  broom 
and  floor  broom  ;  milk  book  for  keeping  accurate  account  of 
all  business  transacted  in  the  establishment,  including  daily 
receipts  of  milk  from  patrons  ;  a  set  of  glass  tubes  in  a  case, 
for  testing  milk  as  to  the  amount  of  cream  it  contains  and 
comparing  its  state  of  maturity  ;  two  water  pails  and  one 
curd  pail ;  a  heavy  curd  scoop  ;  two  dippers,  one  of  three  and 
the  other  of  six  quarts  capacity  ;  glass  graduated  jar  and  lac- 
temeter  for  testing  milk  to  locate  water — be  sure  and  pur- 
chase a  lactometer  gauged  for  trying  milk  at  SO*^  Fahrenheit, 
many  being  gauged  for  60°  Fahrenheit,  and  of  little  use  in 
hot  weacher  unless  you  have  ice  handy  to  chill  the  milk  de- 
signed for  the  test ;  stencils,  case  and  brush  for  dating  cheese 
and  branding  boxes  ;  tin  funnel  for  conveying  whey  from  the 
vat  to  the  outside  tank  ;  curd  rake  for  agitating  the  product 
when  cooking ;  a  cheese  tryer ;  a  curd  sink  is  not  now  strictly 
essential,  although  some  makers  still  prefer  to  use  one. 

In  glancing  over  the  above  list  we  will  mention  some  of 
the  articles  that  can  be  supplemented  by  utensils  of  a  more 
primitive  and  cheaper  make.  Such  a  retrograde  change  is 
not,  however,  desirable,  altliough  sometimes  in  a  small  fac- 
tory where  the  receipts  to  the  manufacturer  are  limited,  strict 
economy  has  to  be  practiced  in  order  to  leave  a  margin  of 
profit.       With   economists  of  necessity  the  boiler  can  be  dis- 


— 9— 
card2d  and  an  old-fashioned  under-heater  vat,  with  a  hot  water 
tank  attached,  made  to  do  service.  I  know  of  dozens  of  small 
factories  throughout  Central  Xew  York  who  get  along  admir- 
ably with  such  apparatus.  In  the  matter  of  press  and  hoops 
you  can  do  better  without  the  gang  press  than  you  can  with- 
out the  patent  hoops.  Remember  that  it  is  no  economy  to  go 
back  to  the  primitive  hoop  that  makes  necessary  the  hand 
bandaging  of  every  cheese.  If  obliged  to  go  without  the 
gang  press,  get  hoops  that  can  be  bandaged  before  the  curd  is 
put  in  them,  so  that  two  cheese  can  be  pressed  under  one 
screw  in  an  old-fashioned  press.  In  such  a  case  wooden  fol- 
lowers would  be  required.  One  pair  of  scales  can  be  got  along 
with  at  a  pinch,  although  two  pairs  would  save  a  great  deal 
of  transferring  and  extra  work.  Do  not  get  along  with  one 
curd  knife — you  need  both  the  horizontal  and  the  perpen- 
dicular, in  order  to  cut  the  raw  curd  evenly  and  economically. 
A  crane  can  take  the  place  of  a  large  wheel  for  hoisting  milk 
if  you  consider  it  more  convenient.  Keep  rennet  in  nothing 
but  stone  jars  or  vessels  and  keep  at  least  ten  gallons  always 
prepared  ahead.  Jugs  are  often  used  for  annottoine,  although 
an  open  jar  admits  of  easy  dipping  and  accurate  measurement. 
Have  your  tinner  make  you  a  long,  narrow  gill  cup,  to  which 
should  be  soldered  an  upright  six-inch  handle  with  a  shep- 
herd's crook  in  the  end.  Use  the  cup  for  measuring  out  the 
coloring ;  the  long  handle,  which  can  be  hung  by  the  crook 
on  the  inside  of  the  jar,  precludes  soiling  the  hands,  clothing 
and  floor  with  the  scarlet  dye.  A  curd  mill  of  some  sort  is 
positively  necessary  in  order  to  facilitate  good,  even  stock  ; 
do  not  leave  one  out  of  the  list  of  apparati  under  any  con- 
sideration. I  prefer  a  self-salting  mill,  not  only  on  account 
of  the  ease  with  which  curd  can  be  ground  but  also  for  its 
superior  mechanism  in  thoroughly  mixing  the  salt  into  the 
curd  as  fast  as  it  is  torn  bv  the  teeth.  In  orrindino;  curd 
with  a  common  machine,  the   torn  shreds   quickly   re-amalga- 


—10— 

mate  into  an  almost  solid  mass  that  often  requires  harsh 
manipulation  to  separate.  Then,  again,  the  salt  being 
sprinkled  by  hand  over  the  outer  surface  of  the  freshly-torn 
curd  sears  and  burns  it  before  it  can  be  worked  into  the  mass. 
With  a  self-salter,  the  saline  condiment  is  equally  distributed 
through  all  parts  at  the  proper  limit  of  acid  formation,  thus 
preventing  the  curd  from  packing  solidly  and  making  the 
quality  even  and  fine. 


MANUFACTURE  OF  CHEESE. 


COAGULATION  OF  MILK. 

If  the  milk  you  have  in  your  vat  is  mature,  or,  in  other 
words,  slightly  tending  toward  sour,  heat  it  as  rapidly  as  pos- 
sible when  preparing  for  the  application  of  rennet.  In 
the  cool  extremes  of  the  season  heat  milk  to  86'^  Fahrenheit 
and  in  warm  weather  to  85"^  before  rennet  is  applied.  If  the 
milk  is  all  right  as  to  sweetness,  as  the  bulk  of  milk  is,  heat 
it  up  to  the  desired  point  gradually,  stirring  it  gently  at  fre- 
quent intervals  with  a  long-handled  dipper.  You  stir  for  the 
purpose  of  keeping  down  the  cream  and  evenly  distributing 
the  warmth  that  is  permeating  the  lacteal  mass.  You  stir  it 
with  great  gentleness  and  care  because  milk  globules  are  eggs 
in  miniature,  and,  like  their  large  relatives  of  biped  produc- 
tion, they  must  be  handled  with  care.  If  you  wish  to  heat 
to  85°  and  have  an  under-heater  vat  or  fire  flue  beneath  the 
milk,  withdraw  the  fire  before  it  has  quite  reached  that  point, 
as  the  after  warmth  will  carry  it  up  a  degree  or  two.  Be 
perfectly  precise  in  all  such  little  points,  for  on  them  hinge 
big  results. 

With  milk  in  normal  condition  as  to  maturity,  standing  at 
a  temperature  of  85°  in  both  ends  of  the  vat,  and  with  no 
cream  visible  on  the  surface,  you   are   ready  to   take  another 


—11— 

step  in  the  course  of  manufacture.  If  colored  cheese  are  de-' 
sired,  now  apply  annottoine  sufficient  to  give  a  rich,  golden 
hue.  Know  exactly  by  experiment  its  strength  as  a  dye, 
always  know  the  quantity  of  milk  to  a  pound  and  portion  out 
accordingly.  Work  the  coloring  into  the  fluid  with  the  same 
gentleness  with  which  you  have  heretofore  manipulated  it 
while  raising  the  temperature.  When  the  milk  is  all  of  one 
even,  yellow  tinge,  attesting  that  the  annotto  is  represented 
equally  in  every  part,  it  is  ready  for  the  real  inceptor  of 
cheese,  rennet.  The  tendency  of  modern  cheese  making  is 
toward  quick  coagulation  of  milk.  The  larger  infusion  of 
rennet  necessary  for  this  purpose  begets  cheese  that  can  be 
quickly  cured  for  a  market  where  they  are  expected  to  be 
soon  consumed.  The  old  rule  of  coagulation  in  twenty  min- 
utes is  now  nearly  obsolete,  although  it  will  always  hold  good 
for  cheese  of  long  keeping  qualities.  Fall  made  cheese  that 
are  expected  to  be  consumed  during  the  winter  months  should 
be  strengthened  for  age  by  coagulation  in  from  fifteen  to 
eighteen  minutes.  When  we  are  dealing  with  the  aver- 
age spring  and  summer  make,  trade  demands  more  perish- 
able stock  and  we  must  cater  to  it.  If  you  do  not  know  the 
strength  of  your  rennet  and  you  want  the  milk  to  thicken  in 
eight  or  nine  minutes,  as  it  should  do,  previously  test  the 
lactic  juice  by  putting  a  teaspoonful  into  a  tumbler  of  milk 
kept  warm  at  85-\  If  the  glass  of  fluid  thickens  in  five  min- 
utes, you  need  one  quart  of  such  rennet  juice  for  every  800 
pounds  of  milk  to  effect  coagulation,  as  stated  above.  If  the 
tested  quantity  thickens  in  less  or  longer  time,  a  proportionate 
less  or  greater  amount  is  required  for  your  purpose.  Measure 
the  rennet  extract  with  exactness,  so  that  there  will  be  no 
miss  in  its  proper  adjustment  to  the  milk,  and  then  incorpo- 
rate it  into  the  vat  of  lacteal  fluid.  In  infusing  it  into  the 
milk  structure,  maniputate  your  dipper  with  the  same  caution 
that    has    characterized    your    former    attitude  toward  the 


—12— 
fragilely  constructed  fluid  under  your  hand.  After  stirring 
for  five  minutes,  withdraw  the  dipper  and  let  the  surface  of 
the  milk  come  to  a  calm.  Then  pass  the  bottom  of  the  emj^ty 
dipper  lightly  over  the  vat  to  drive  back  any  particles  of  cream 
that  may  be  struggling  to  the  surface.  The  milk  will  soon 
begin  to  roll  up  in  the  wake  of  the  tin  utensil  in  your  hand 
in  a  rapidly  thickening  wave.  Immediately  withdraw  the 
dipper,  for  the  rennet  has  accomplished  its  mission.  Tui'ning 
to  your  vat  cover,  stretch  it  tightly  over  the  fermenting  milk. 
The  cover  mentioned  should  consist  of  a  strip  of  canvas  cloth 
or  sheeting  running  the  entire  length  of  the  vat  and  lap2)ing 
slightly  over  its  width.  The  cloth  should  be  tacked  to  lath 
or  other  light  wooden  strips  the  width  of  the  vat,  and  these 
supports  should  be  about  two  feet  apart.  When  not  in  use, 
the  cover  can  be  rolled  up  like  a  section  of  carpeting  and  is 
not  at  all  awkward  to  handle.  Place  the  cover  in  a  closed 
form  on  one  end  of  the  vat,  and,  unrolling  it  as  fast  as  you 
walk,  you  can  stretch  it  to  the  other  end  in  half  a  minute,  thus 
keeping  your  milk  snug  and  close.  I  prefer  to  use  such  a 
cover  every  day  during  the  season,  and  they  are  indispensable 
in  spring  and  fall.  Without  some  such  device  the  crust  of 
the  rapidly  forming  curd  is  chilled,  retarding  the  action  of 
the  rennet,  and  the  temperature  of  the  whole  mass  is  pre- 
ceptibly  lowered,  which  is  not  only  undesirable  but  positively 
detrimental  to  the  natural  and  perfect  formation  of  cheese. 

In  the  course  of  twenty  or  thirty  minutes  after  coagula- 
tion examine  your  crude  cheese  material  and  see  if  it  is  ready 
to  cut  up.  Thrust  the  forefinger  into  the  mass,  and  if  the 
curd  will  split  cleanly  in  front  of  it,  it  is  ready  for  the  knives. 
Milk  should  stand  about  forty-five  minutes  after  the  infusion 
of  rennet  before  it  is  cut,  but  if  the  milk  is  very  mature  in 
(juality  rennet  will  act  on  the  casine  more  spontaneously.  It 
may  be  firm  enough  to  cut  before  that  time  ;  if,  in  such  a  case, 
the  same  amount  of  rennet  had  previously  acted  slowly  on  a 


—13— 

proportionate  quantity  of  milk,  you  can  at  once  consider  the 
quick  action  as  a  fair  warning  from  nature  that  you  must 
scald  your  curd  in  haste  to  keep  ahead  of  the  swiftly  multi- 
plying acid  germs.  As  previously  stated,  as  soon  as  the  curd 
mass  will  cleave  brittlely  over  the  finger  prepare  your  knives. 
First  pick  up  the  one  with  horizontal  blade  and  hold  it  a 
second  in  hot  water.  This  will  warm  the  steel  so  that  it  will 
not  chill  the  curd.  Cut  the  mass  lengthwise,  turning  corners 
deftly  without  lifting  the  instrument  once  until  you  are 
through.  Then  lay  this  knife  aside  for  its  work  is  done. 
Insert  the  perpendicular  knife  also  in  hot  water  and  with  it 
cut  the  curd  first  crosswise,  then  lengthwise,  then  crosswise 
again,  being  ^ure  to  lap  over  the  course  of  each  cut.  The 
curd  is  now  in  small  cubes  that  are  fast  discharging  whey 
from  their  severed  cellular  system.  They  gravitate  toward 
the  bottom  of  the  vat.  If  the  curd  has  been  cleft  by  the 
blades,  gently  and  with  great  care,  the  rising  whey  has  a  clear, 
greenish  cast,  attesting  that  it  is  freed  from  most  of  the  albu- 
minous substances  of  the  milk  and  will  render  a  good  ratio  to 
the  patrons. 

SCALDING. 

If  the  milk  was  mature,  or  too  much  rennet  was  incorpo- 
rated with  perfectly  sweet  milk,  the  whey  will  separate  from 
the  solids  very  rapidly.  In  either  case  it  wants  an  immediate 
application  of  heat  after  cutting.  Curd  from  fairly  good  milk, 
with  a  proper  infusion  of  rennet,  should  stand  for  a  few  mo- 
ments after  cutting  before  heat  is  turned  on.  Never  apply 
heat  under  any  circumstances  until  the  raw  curd  has  all  dis- 
appeared beneath  the  whey's  surface.  As  soon  as  the  heat 
has  warmed  the  bottom  of  the  vat,  bare  your  arms  and  with 
the  hands  gently  lift  the  new  cut  mass  to  the  surface.  In  this 
lifting  give  it  a  rolling  motion,  so  that  the  cubes  will  all  fall 
apart  and  exchange  positions  with  one  another. 


—14— 

Two  dangers  now  arise  and  you  must  be  prej^ared  to  steer 
straight  between  them.  First,  as  the  heat  comes  surging  up 
from  beneath  against  the  tin  bottom  of  the  vat  it  makes  it 
very  hot  below  and  cool  on  top.  If  the  raw  curd  settles  but 
a  moment  against  the  hot  bottom  it  is  liable  to  be  blistered 
and  seared  over,  to  the  subsequent  detriment  of  the  whole  mass. 
Of  course,  it  needs  a  slow  application  of  heat  on  the  start  and 
almost  constant  agitation,  and  here  comes  danger  number  two. 
If  you  do  not  stir  your  curd  sufficiently  in  heating,  the  quality 
of  your  goods  is  at  stake,  and  if  you  do  not  stir  judiciously, 
Qj'  stir  too  often  and  too  harshly,  your  milk  ratio  is  in  jeopardy. 
By  exercising  good  judgment,  care  and  caution  you  can  avoid 
the  two  extremes  and  make  each  danger  your  willing  servant. 
If  your  milk  on  the  start  is  sweet  and  pure,  allow  the  heat  to 
go  up  slowly  until  it  touches  the  desired  point.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  ripe,  old  or  sour,  push  the  heat  with  all  vigor 
and  scald  as  quickly  as  possible.  With  milk  all  right,  about 
three-fourths  of  an  hour's  time  should  be  consumed  in  bring- 
ing up  the  heat  to  the  scalding  limit,  but  if  otherwise  get  it 
there  in  fifteen  minutes  or  half  an  hour,  according  to  the  exi- 
gency of  the  case. 

But,  to  return  to  the  subject  of  scalding  a  vat  of  curd  in 
normal  condition.  On  the  start,  using  your  hands  as  de- 
scribed, manipulate  it  with  such  care  that  the  tender  cubes  are 
not  bruised  and  yet  are  kept  separate  enough  so  that  they 
will  not  form  into  a  compact  mass  on  the  warm  bottom.  All 
this  time  the  whey  is  percolating  from  the  blocks  and 
they  are  shrinking  in  size  and  becoming  of  tougher  texture. 
As  soon  as  the  curd  begins  to  assume  a  slightly  elastic  con- 
sistency begin  operations  with  a  rake.  If  you  have  an  idea 
that  curd  wants  to  be  stirred  all  of  the  time  through  the  scald- 
ing period,  at  once  disabuse  your  mind  of  it.  Such  a  notion 
is  antediluvian  in  its  conception  and  disastrous  in  its  results, 
but,  strange  to   say,  it   is   tlie   predominating  feature  of  the 


—15— 
know-it-all  young  maker's  knowledge.  Novices  at  the  busi- 
ness are  sure  to  stir  too  often  and  too  violently.  This  knocks 
off  the  yield  and  also  injures  the  quality  of  the  cheese.  For 
myself,  above  all  patent  devices  in  the  shape  of  Avire  rakes 
for  agitating  curd,  I  prefer  a  simple  wooden  hand  hay  rake. 
Get  one  made  of  wood  throughout  and  saw  off  the  handle, 
leaving  the  stub  about  four  feet  long ;  this  will  insure  conven- 
ient handling.  When  the  moment  arrives  in  the  early  cook- 
ing departure  to  use  the  rake,  take  the  utensil  described  and, 
inserting  it  teeth  up  in  the  whey  and  curd  midway  of  the  vat 
at  one  end,  push  it  gently  from  you  to  within  two  inches  of 
the  farther  edge,  letting  the  back  of  the  rake  head  slide  on 
the  bottom  of  the  vat.  Be  sure  and  do  not  let  the  teeth  and 
head  of  the  agitator  hit  the  side  of  the  vat,  as  curd  is  pushed 
before  it  which  does  not  want  the  substance  and  nutriment 
crushed  out  of  it  that  way.  As  the  rake  approaches  the 
side  of  the  vat  give  it  an  easy,  undulating,  upward  swing, 
ending  by  a  draw  of  the  rake  toward  you.  This  will  cause 
the  curd  that  you  have  been  pushing  from  you  along  the  bot- 
tom of  the  vat  to  boil  up  with  the  whey  in  the  wake  of  the 
retreating  rake.  If  the  motion  has  been  gone  through  with 
easily  and  carefully,  you  will  at  once  see  that  the  curd  within 
the  rake's  sweep  has  been  thoroughly  agitated  vithout  bruis- 
ing. After  the  manoeuvre  described,  do  not  change  position 
but  drawing  the  rake  toward  you,  with  its  head  scraping  the 
bottom  of  the  vat,  produce  a  gentle  ebullition  of  curd  and 
whey  in  the  same  way  as  that  just  manifested.  Step  along, 
repeating  the  pushing  and  drawing  of  the  rake  until  the 
farther  end  of  the  vat  is  reached.  Then,  push  the  curd  with 
the  rake  up  on  one  side  and  down  on  the  other  of  the  vat, 
changing  ends,  as  it  were,  with  the  cooking  cheese.  Once 
over  a  vat  in  this  way,  if  accomplished  properly,  thoroughly 
separates  the  curd  particles  and  evens  up  the  heat  through 
the  whole  mass.     Kow,  let  the   rake   rest   but  have   the  heat 


—le- 
go on  for  a  few  moments.  When  the  curd  begins  to  pack 
slightly  (perpaps  in  five  minutes,  more  or  less,  according  to 
the  previous  maturity  of  the  milk),  again  stir  it  up  in  the  man- 
ner described  and  again  let  it  rest,  repeating  the  periods  of 
agitation  until  it  is  scalded  up  to  the  desired  temperature. 
In  regard  to  the  right  temperature  at  which  to  scald  cheese 
we  cannot  hope  to  give  on  paper  much  more  than  superficial 
information.  Every  phase  of  cheese  making,  to  be  thoroughly 
understood,  requires  practical  experience,  but  hints  and  point- 
ers on  paper  are  often  just  what  are  needed  to  help  puzzled 
ones  out  of  awkward  dilemmas  encountered  in  the  business. 
Hence,  we  shall,  in  the  most  clear  and  logical  manner  possible, 
give  the  reader  our  views,  derived  from  experience,  on  scald- 
ing temperature. 

RIGHT  TEMPERATURE. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year,  hay  produced  milk  is  compara- 
tively poor  and  thin.  When  it  reaches  the  manufacturer's 
hands  it  is  generally  as  sweet  as  a  rose  in  regard  to  acid, 
although  not  always  so  in  regard  to  stable  tang.  When  it 
has  been  transformed  into  curd  it  must  be  scalded  high  enough 
to  cook  it,  whether  that  takes  a  temperature  of  98o,  100<^  or 
llQo  Fahrenheit.  Don't  think,  as  some  do,  that  the  curd  is 
cooked  when  it  has  reached  the  temperature  you  are  using — 
generally  it  is  not  more  than  half  cooked  then.  We  will  say 
you  began  making  cheese  on  the  first  day  of  April.  You  are 
not  an  expert  at  the  business  and,  being  anxious  to  make  a 
good  beginning,  feel  a  trifle  nervous  over  the  situation.  Keep 
cool  and  bring  the  temperature  of  the  curd  up  to  100^.  On 
reaching  this  heat  immediately  cover  up  the  vat  with  the 
carpet-like  canopy  previously  described.  Be  sure  and  give  it 
a  thorough  rake  stirring  the  last  thing  on  reaching  the  scald- 
ing point.  If  the  make-room  is  reasonably  warm  the  canvas 
roof  will  keep  the  whey  at  a  mercurial  heat  of  100°  for  a  long 
while.     After  a  few  minutes  examine  the  curd  and  see  how 


—17— 
it  is  progressing.  Stir  it  up  occasionally — once  in  fifteen 
minutes  or  so  is  sufficient — and  after  it  has  stood  an  hour  and 
a  half  at  100^,  if  it  does  not  squeak  sharply  between  the  teeth 
when  chewed  or  immediately  fall  apart  when  squeezed  dry  of 
whey  in  a  double- handful,  you  may  be  assured  that  100°  was 
too  low  a  temperature  at  which  to  cook  it.  The  object  is  to 
cook  at  the  lowest  temperature  which  will  do  the  business 
within  a  reasonable  time.  The  higher  the  temperature  used, 
the  quicker  it  will  be  cooked,  but  it  will  require  more  milk  to 
make  a  pound  of  cheese.  A  good  yield  and  a  good  quality 
must  both  be  gotten  out  of  the  milk — these  are  fine  points  in 
cheese  making.  The  curd  we  have  spoken  of  has  stood  in  the 
whey  at  100°  degrees  for  one  hour  and  a  half  and  is  yet  in- 
sufficiently cooked.  An  hour  longer  at  the  same  tem- 
perature would  probably  cook  it  to  the  right  degree,  but  there 
are  objections  to  letting  curd  stand  in  the  whey  so  long — it 
gets  whey  soaked  and  begins  to  disintegrate  slightly,  even 
when  no  acid  is  perceptible.  So,  after  a  ninety  minute  test, 
(or,  better  yet,  before),  raise  the  temperature  two,  four,  six  or 
ten  degrees,  as  your  judgment  warrants,  and  bring  it  to  ai 
firm  consistency  as  quickly  as  possible. 

We  are  now  supposed  to  be  working  spring  or  fall  milk 
that  is  obstinately  sweet  and  very  hard  to  cook.  In  summer 
or  warm  weather,  milk  is,  of  course,  mature;  this  aids  and 
hastens  the  cooking  process  while  sweetness  retards  it.  In 
cool  weather  and  with  good  milk,  having  found  that  a  mini- 
mum of  100°  will  not  cook  the  curd  after  standing  at  that 
temperature  an  hour  and  a  half,  fix  your  standard  higher  and 
bring  it  within  the  rule  prescribed.  Be  sure  that  your  curd 
is  thoroughly  cooked.  Thousands  of  boxes  of  weak,  half 
raw  cheese  are  thrown  on  the  market  every  spring  that  are 
deficient  in  quality  through  a  lack  of  heat  in  the  vat.  The 
most  convenient  and  sure  test  of  which  I  are  aware,  to  tell 
that  the  curd  is  "done,"  so  to  speak,  is  to  grasp  a  large  double- 


—18— 

handful  and  compress  it  dry  of  whey;  if  it  quickly,  after 
pressure  is  withdrawn,  falls  easily  apart  on  the  palm  of  the 
outstretched  hand,  you  may  be  sure  that  your  curd  is  thor- 
oughly cooked  in  every  way.  ^ 

Now  we  come  to  acid. 

ACID. 

Acid  microbes  are  inherent  in  the  lacteal  structure  and 
come  dormant  in  the  milk  from  the  udder.  As  soon  as  they 
feel  the  atmosphere  they  spring  into  spontaneous  activity, 
however  retarded  by  cold  or  fostered  by  heat.  Acid  in  milk 
is  a  species  of  yeast  fermentation  and  is  the  first  step  toward 
decomposition.  It  is  the  best  servant  the  cheese  maker  has 
and  is  also  his  worst  enemy  when  the  relation  is  changed  to 
that  of  master.  In  a  temperate  climate,  in  hay  produced 
milk,  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  acid  is  nearly  dormant  and 
there  is  but  little  use  for  it.  Hay  cheese  are  expected  to  be 
thrown  on  the  market  in  cool  weather  when  they  will  be  quick- 
ly consumed ;  therefore,  the  additional  firmness  given  by  acid 
is  not  required  to  be  applied  as  a  safeguard  against  heat.  If 
early  hay  cheese  are  cooked  enough  and  salted  about  two 
pounds  to  the  thousand,  it  is  all  that  is  desirable.  On  the 
border  between  hay  and  grass  the  weather  is  gradually  mod- 
erating and  there  is  torrid  temperature  in  sight  in  the  imme- 
diate future.  Acid  now  begins  to  appear  in  the  whey  and 
curd  you  are  working  by  the  time  you  have  it  scalded.  It 
has  a  right  to  be  there  for  it  is  your  friend  and  you  now  need 
its  timely  proffered  assistance.  If,  through  unusually  good 
quality  of  milk,  it  does  not  come  to  the  front,  coax  it  a  little 
in  the  following  way :  After  the  curd  is  cooked  and  before 
whey  is  drawn,  turn  on  steam  and  re-warm  the  whole  mass, 
then  draw  the  whey  and  pack  the  curd  in  bulk  as  much  as 
possible,  covering  it  up  with  a  cloth.  This  will  soon  set  the 
acid  to  working  in  good  shape.  Always  rely  on  the  hot  iron 
test  to  locate  acid.     It  takes  an  expert  to  get  the  amount  of 


—19— 

acid  even  from  mess  to  mess  by  an  olfactory  measurement. 
On  March  and  the  first  half  of  April  stock  I  do  not  care  for 
any  acid  to  show,  but  on  later  April  and  beginning  of  May 
goods  acid  should  show  on  the  hot  iron  clearly  and  perceptibly. 
When  the  curd  is  pressed  to  the  metal,  fine  strings  should  just 
start  from  it  immediately  prior  to  salting.  At  this  time  you 
want  just  a  little  acid  but  not  too  much — too  much  will  surely 
spoil  spring  made  cheese. 

The  question  arises,  "How  far  must  a  cheese  maker  probe 
into  the  hidden  mysteries  that  shroud  the  digestive  assimila- 
tion of  the  product  he  manufactures?"  We  answer  that  he 
cannot  probe  too  deeply  or  extend  his  researches  too  far  into  the 
minute.  There  are  too  many  makers  now  with  only  a  super- 
ficial knowledge  of  their  craft,  and  before  there  can  be  any 
perceptible  elevation  of  quality  in  American  cheese  the  shoes 
of  these  novices  must  be  filled  by  such  men  as  we  now  term 
"experts."  Take,  for  example,  the  subject  of  acid  w^hich  we 
are  here  discussing.  A  maker  who  can  preceive  it  only  as  it 
is  revealed  by  stringing  on  the  iron  is  not  competent  to  be  in 
charge  of  a  factory,  for  anybody  could  detect  it  there.  The 
development  of  lactic  acid  is  a  species  of  fermentation  in- 
duced by  the  spontaneous  increase  of  inherent  minute  bacteria. 
It  takes  the  same  experience  to  perceive  and  govern  it  in 
milk  and  cheese  as  it  does  practice  with  square  and  compass 
to  become  a  carpenter.  We  cannot  tell  you  all  about  it — it 
wdll  take  many  days  of  careful  observation  and  fine  testing  to 
understand  its  nature  enough  to  make  it  your  servant  in  the 
cheese  making  art.  That  is  why  makers  without  practical  ex- 
perience are  always  incompetent.  Hold  curd  in  the  whey 
until  it  shows  at  least  a  quarter  of  an  inch  of  acid  by  the  hot 
iron  and  then  draw  off  whey  as  quickly  as  possible.  It  is 
always  a  good  plan  where  you  have  large  vats  and  they  are 
pretty  well  filled  to  have  a  third  of  the  whey  drawn  off  before 
acid  develops,  for  then  you  can  more   quickly  lay  bare  your 


—20— 

curd.     As  the  whey  recedes,  push  the  curd   with  the   rake 
head  toward  the  upper  end  of  the  vat  and  then  tip  the  vat 
down,  so  that  the  whey  will  flow  out  from  the  lowest  corner. 
Make  a  gutter  with   your  hands   through  the   center  of  the 
curd  mass  and  distribute  it  in  an  even  pack  on  each  side  of 
the  vat.     Now,  take  a  knife  and  cut  it  into  strips  eight  inches 
wide,  drawing  the  knife  from  the  center  gutter   toward  the 
side  of  the  vat.     Flop  these  strips  upside  down  and,  to  farther 
facilitate  drainage,  cut  a  longitudinal  canal  next  to  the  sides 
of  the  vat.     Examine  by  the   iron   and   see   how  the  curd  is 
working  as  to  acid ;    if  it  is  maturing  slowly  and  the  curd  is 
not  hot,  shut  off  all  draughts  of  air,  cut  the  curd  into  "bricks" 
or  blocks  the  size  of  a  brick,  and  scatter  them  over  the  bot- 
tom of  the  vat.     Then  cover  the  vat  up  with  the  same  cloth 
that  you  used  when  scalding.     If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  curd 
is  hot  and  maturing  rapidly,  cut  into  small  bricks,  scatter  well 
and  give  it  all  the   air  possible,  frequently  turning  the  bricks 
over.     Unless  positively  unavoidable  on  account  of  overplus 
of  acid  never  grind  curd  until  you   have   cooled  it  down  to  a 
temperature  of  80°.     Above  that  heat  the  fine  texture  of  the 
curd  is  torn  and  mutilated  so  that  it  will  give  out  white  whey, 
and,  as  a  consequence,  waste  of  quality  and  substance  ensues. 
The  curd  being  first  well  drained  and  cooled  to  80*=*  by 
subdivision  of  pieces  and  having  also  developed  acid  sufficient 
for  the  season,  it  is  ready  for  the  mill.     Grind  with  delibera- 
tion, and  if  you  have  a  self-salter,  so  much  the  better.     Incor- 
porate   the    salt    into    the    curd    by    thorough,  although   not 
violent,  mixing  and  then   air  your  curd.     This  is  one  of  the 
most  important  processes  of   all   and  yet  the  one  most  neg- 
lected by   negligent  makers.     A  curd  requires  airing,  not  so 
much  to  expel  heat  as  to  expugn  the  gaseous  odors  that  have 
followed  it  down  from  its  animal  origin.     Stir  it  well  at  fre- 
quent intervals  and  spread  it  out  well  over  the  surface  of  the 
vat.     So  calculate  that  it  can  lay  twenty  minutes  or  half  an 


—21— 

hour  before  it  has  sunk  to  the  temperature  of  TO'^',  when  it  is 
just  right  for  the  hoops.  Allowing  it  to  lay  this  length  of 
time  gives  the  salt  an  opportunity  to  strike  into  the  pores  and 
impregnate  the  product  with  its  saline  properties  before  being 
put  under  pressure. 

HOOPING  CURD. 

On  placing  curd  in  the  hoop  measure  it  all  in  a  pail  and 
then  you  will  get  the  cheese  of  nearly  an  exact  weight. 
When  spreading  on  the  cap  cloth  wring  it  out  of  warm  water, 
tht  last  thing  stirring  up  the  surface  curd  from  below,  so  that 
tliere  will  be  warmth  to  form  a  good  rind.  Apply  the  pres- 
sure slowly  at  first,  and  as  soon  as  the  whey  starts  from  the 
hoops  with  a  "gush,"  desist  and  let  them  rest  for  a  few  mo- 
ments. The  reason  for  this  is  to  retain  the  salt  and  not  expel 
it  with  the  whey  by  an  injudicious  display  of  strength.  You 
have,  perhaps,  considered  two  pounds  or  two  and  a  half  of 
salt  per  1,000  pounds  of  milk  just  right  for  the  curd  and  the 
season  of  the  year,  and  it  would  be  most  unwise  and  foolish  to 
let  it  dribble  away  to  the  detriment  of  the  product.  As  soon 
as  the  whey  ceases  to  start  freely  come  down  snugly  on  them 
with  the  lever  and  then  turn  your  attention  to  washing  up 
the  vat  and  utensils. 

CLEANING  TIN  UTENSILS. 

This  part  of  a  maker's  duties  has  an  important  bearing 
on  cheese  manufacture,  for  if  he  is  a  sloven  it  does  but  little 
good  for  patrons  to  strive  to  furnish  him  with  pure,  sweet 
milk.  Wash  the  vat  and  utensils  through  two  waters  and 
scald  with  that  which  is  boiling.  The  vat  and  all  utensils 
should  be  scoured  at  least  once  a  week  with  salt,  to  prevent  the 
propagation  of  a  yellow  and  white  fungus  growth  that  is  a  per- 
sistent parasite  of  factories.  Milk  strainers  should  be  hung 
out  where  the  bright  sunshine   can  reach  them,  and   all  the 


—22— 

windows  and  outside  doors  to  the  make-room  should  be 
opened,  to  drive  out  the  dampness  that  has  accumulated  dur- 
ing the  forepart  of  the  day. 

PULLING  UP  THE  BANDAGE  CLOTH. 

In  from  fifteen  to  twenty  minutes  after  hooping  curd  turn 
your  attention  to  them  again.  If  the  old  style  hoops  are  used 
you  will  be  obliged  to  bandage  them  by  hand;  if  not,  to  pull 
up  the  bandage  cloth.  As  the  former  way  is  nearly  obsolete, 
we  will  simply  discuss  the  modus  operandi  of  the  latter. 

Set  a  pailful  of  clean  warm  water  near  you,  and  as  you 
remove  the  cap  cloths  rinse  them  vigorously  in  this,  to  wash 
out  all  sour  whey.  Pull  the  margin  of  the  bandage  up  and 
turn  it  neatly  over  the  edge  of  the  cheese;  then,  wringing 
the  cap  slightly,  to  remove  only  the  surplus  water,  spread  it 
over  the  surface,  smoothing  out  all  wrinkles.  Apply,  now,  all 
the  power  that  you  have,  that  is,  reasonable  power.  You  do 
not  want  to  press  so  hard  that  the  butter  will  be  crushed  out 
of  the  cheese  structure,  but  you  want  to  press  so  as  to  expel 
all  whey  and  permanently  solidify  the  cheese.  I  examined 
1888  made  cheese  this  spring  that  were  of  fine  quality  but 
insufiiciently  pressed.  The  seams  and  cracks  were  mouldy 
and  damp  with  whey,  which  damaged  an  otherwise  fancy 
product  50  per  cent. 

CLEANING  UP. 

Cleaning  up  is  the  last  duty  of  the  cheese  maker  for  the 
day.  I  use  hot  water  freely  on  any  portion  of  the  floor  with 
which  whey  has  come  in  contact,  and  especially  should  it  be 
used  about  the  spouts  and  drains,  for  it  is  here  that  filth  lurks 
and  easily  conceals  itself.  Boiling  water  will  search  it  out 
and  eradicate  it;  dash  it  on  copiously  all  around.  Sal-soda 
and  potash  are  helpful  aids  to  keep  the  make-room  sweet,  and 
a  liberal  supply  should  be  counted  among  the  necessities  of 
of  every  factory. 


-23- 


THE  CURING  ROOM. 


It  is  just  as  easy  to  have  a  model  curing  room  as  one  that 
is  defective  in  structure.  A  cheese  may  be  turned  out  of  the 
hoop  the  acme  of  perfection  in  every  detail  of  manufacture, 
and  yet  subsequently  be  damaged  partly  or  wholly  ruined  by 
inhabiting  a  faulty  curing  apartment.  The  curing  room 
should  not  be  in  a  loft,  or  above  the  make-room,  It  should 
be  on  the  ground  floor,  and  for  convenience  it  should  open 
direct  from  the  make-room,  the  door  being  easy  of  access  to 
the  press.  The  partition  between  the  two  rooms  must  be  im- 
pervious to  the  steam  arising  from  the  cheese  vats,  as  the 
animal  vapor  is  detrimental  to  the  maturing  product  on  the 
shelves.  Tlie  room  should  by  all  means  be  plastered,  and 
have  windows  that  can  be  lowered  from  the  top  when  neces- 
sary for  proper  ventilation.  In  these  times  when  cheese  are 
frequently  shipped  when  only  ten  days  from  the  hoop,  a  large 
curing  room  is  not  necessary  even  for  a  large  factory.  The 
smaller  you  can  have  it  without  crowding,  the  better.  If  you 
want  a  room  that  will  hold  300  cheese,  lay  shelves  2^  feet 
above  the  floor  that  will  accommodate  100,  put  in  stout  up- 
rights 74-  feet  high,  and  on  cross  pieces  above  lay  two  more 
tiers  of  shelves  of  the  same  surface  capacity  as  the  bottom 
counter.  When  it  is  finished  you  have  three  tiers  of  shelves 
encircling  the  room,  save  for  two  doors,  with  space  left  in  the* 
center  for  a  box  stove.  The  object  of  arranging  shelves  one 
above  another  is  not  so  much  to  utilize  space  as  it  is  to  scien- 
tifically cure  the  product.  It,  however,  answers  for  both  pur- 
poses. In  a  room,  temperature  rises  with  height,  and  the  at- 
mosphere is,  of  course,  several  degrees  warmer  near  the  ceiling 
than  in  the  region  of  the  floor.  Hang  a  reliable  thermometer 
on  a  range  with  the  second  tier  of  shelves,  in  a  portion  of  the 
room  where  it  will  not  be   affected   by   direct  heat   from   the 


stove.  In  this  jjosition  the  mercury  should  range  from  65^  to 
10°  Fahrenheit,  the  temperature  on  the  top  shelf  at  the  same 
time  rising  to  the  vicinity  of  75°  Fahrenheit.  We  will  be 
supposed  to  carry  a  day's  make  of  cheese  into  such  a  room 
when  it  is  empty.  Place  them  all  on  the  top  shelf  in  regular 
order,  two  deep.  Continue  to  add  from  day  to  <]ay  until  the 
top  shelf  is  completely  filled  all  around.  Then  begin  at  the 
end  where  you  first  started,  and  take  down  the  first  day's 
make  and  place  on  the  second  shelf,  arranging  those  fresh 
from  the  hoop  in  their  place.  Continue  this  process  all 
around  until  the  second  tier  is  filled.  Your  next  move  will 
necessitate  two  removals,  leaving  the  oldest  on  the  bottom  tier 
and  the  greenest  on  top.  As  soon  as  a  cheese  leaves  the  hoop 
a  certain  warmth  of  atmosphere  is  necessary  to  assist  the  pro- 
cess of  fermentation  that  should  at  once  begin.  If  this  warmth 
is  lacking  green  cheese  will  sour  on  the  shelves  before  they 
>can  cure.  Therefore,  always  place  them  in  the  most  favorable 
position  for  assistance  in  the  direction  of  maturity  that  you 
have  at  command. 


CARE  OF  CHEESE. 


Take  cheese  from  the  hoops  after  they  have  been  under 
pressure  about  eighteen  hours.  If  they  have  been  properly 
made  and  thoroughly  cooked,  and  the  cap  cloths  are  sweet  and 
clean,  the  latter  will  peel  from  the  ends  without  making  an 
abrasion  of  the  rind.  Allow  them  to  stand  an  hour  or  so  on 
the  shelves  before  greasing;  the  surface  moisture  will  then 
have  evaporated,  and  the  rinds  will  deepen  to  a  golden  color  and 
become  crisp  and  slightly  rough  under  the  touch.  Heat  whey 
butter  as  hot  as  you  can  bear  your  hand  in  it,  and,  using  a 
large  piece  of  bandage  cloth  (no  other  cloth  is  as  good),  dip  it 
in  the  hot  grease  and  apply  by  a  thorough  rubbing-in  to  the 
cheese  surface.     The  butter  being  hot  will  strike  in  and  lend 


toughness  and  elasticity  to  the  riud.  Date  the  cheese  after 
they  have  been  on  the  shelves  a  day.  The  bandage  cloth  will 
then  have  become  dry,  and  the  dates  can  be  made  to  show 
clear  and  distinct.  Turn  cheese  over  every  day  and  rub  them 
thoroughly  with  a  sponge  of  bandage  cloth,  well  oiled.  Deal- 
ers, retailers  and  consumers  insist  on  a  good,  perfect  rind, 
and,  as  makers,  we  must  give  it  to  them.  Appearance  some- 
times goes  farther  than  quality,  but  we  want  both,  and  want 
them  united.  Sometimes  cheese  will  mould  on  the  sides  dur- 
ing damp,  muggy  weather  in  summer.  It  will  not  do  to  drive 
out  the  dampness  with  fire,  so  establish  a  free  circulation  of 
air  through  the  room  and  the  mould  will  cease  to  accumulate. 
In  a  curing  room  it  is  easier  to  keep  temperature  where  you 
want  it  during  cool  than  in  hot  weather.  If  the  mercury  gets  to 
running  up  above  VS'^  Fahrenheit,  sprinkle  the  floor  vigorously 
with  cold  water,  take  out  the  window  sashes,  and  on  the  south 
side  keep  the  blinds  closed,  or  a  shade  down.  Good  cheese 
can  endure  a  temperature  of  80'^  for  a  while  without  deterior- 
ating, but  such  a  heat  is  not  desirable;  keep  it  below  that  if  pos- 
sible during  a  hot  wave.  The  shelves  on  which  the  cheese  rest 
should  be  of  sound  lumber,  smoothly  planed  basswood  or  pine, 
and  each  board  a  little  wider  than  the  diameter  of  the  cheese. 
Care  should  be  taken  to  have  the  bandages  the  exact  circum- 
ference of  the  inside  of  the  hoop.  If  the  band  is  contracted, 
the  cloth  will  split  open  under  pressure  and  expose  the  cheese 
to  the  attack  of  skipper  flies;  if  too  large,  the  cheese  will  ex- 
pand on  the  shelf  and  make  it  difficult  to  be  jammed  into  a 
box  for  shipment.  The  reason  the  curing  room  should  not  be 
over  the  make  apartment,  or  in  a  loft,  is  that  in  the  former  the 
vapor  and  odors  generated  below  are  not  desirable  curing 
factors,  and  in  both  cases  excessive  heat  is  unavoidable,  due 
to  the  elevation  and  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun  on  the  roof.  When 
cheese  get  so  warmed  up  that  the  butter  starts,  the  flavor  is 
deteriorating    also.     While    curing,  cheese    need    ventilation, 


—26— 

draughts  of  air  should  be  avoided,  as  thereby  the  surfaces  are 
dried  up  and  checked.  Too  much  light  is  not  desirable  in  a 
curing  room;  shades  should  be  used  at  the  windows  to  regulate 
this.  It  is  now  customary  to  ship  cheese  as  soon  as  they  cease 
to  be  curdy,  which  occurs  in  from  ten  to  fifteen  days  from  the 
hoop. 

EXPERIENCED  HELP. 


One  great  set-back  to  good  cheese  making  is  inexperienced 
and  careless  labor.  This  is  another  cog  in  the  wheel  that  has 
been  retrograding  the  reputation  of  our  goods  during  the  last 
few  years.  A  medical  student  cannot  obtain  a  diploma  author- 
izing him  to  take  under  his  charge  the  welfare  of  the  sick 
without  three  years'  study  aided  by  ocular  demonstrations  of 
his  especial  science.  Then,  he  is  expected  not  to  have  a  dim 
idea  of  a  patient's  condition  when  diagnosing  his  case,  but  to 
know  and  understand  all  about  it.  No  cheese  maker  is  fit  for 
duty  unless  he  can  diagnose  the  condition  of  a  vat  of  milk 
on  a  quick  examination.  The  natural  odor  of  pure  milk  has  a 
peculiar  animal  smell,  whose  nature  can  be  acquired  by  careful 
olfactory  tests  indulged  in  as  the  student  draws  the  fluid  from 
the  cow's  teats.  After  an  apprentice  at  the  business  can  tell 
pure,  sweet,  untainted  milk  in  any  spot  or  place,  he  must  learn 
to  distinguish  between  that  which  is  tainted  and  that  which  is 
verging  on  the  sour.  Tainted  milk  is  radically  different  from 
sour  milk,  and  infused  in  the  product  they  each  tend  toward 
utterly  diverse  results.  To  pass  a  correct  judgment  on  milk 
quality  is  thus  essential  No.  1  in  a  maker's  practical  knowledge. 
Requirement  No.  2,  is  to  have  a  thorough  understanding  of  the 
constituents  and  influence  of  all  of  the  foreign  ingredients 
that  go  into  cheese.  Rennet,  the  most  potent  auxiliary  of  the 
cheese  maker's  craft,  should  never  be  handled  or  applied  by 
ignorant  hands.  The  amateur  maker  should  gain  a  physiolog- 
ical insight  into   the   lactic   portion   of  animal  anatomy,  and 


have  an  intelligeut  comprehension  of  the  active  force  of  the 
peptic  secretion.  When  such  knowledge  is  acquired  he  will 
see  the  importance  of  never  countenancing  any  coagulating 
fluid  that  is  not  immaculately  pure  in  extraction  and  free 
from  any  subsequent  taint.  He  will  also  understand  its  nature 
enough  to  always  make  a  judicious  application  of  it  to  the 
milk  designed  for  manufacture.  Here  the  necessity  of  step 
No.  1  joining  hands  with  No.  2  is  apparent,  for  he  cannot 
make  a  judicious  application  unless  his  olfactory  sense  is 
trained  to  perceive  and  gauge  every  variation  of  the  milk  qual- 
ity. Necessity  No.  3,  is  in  following  the  quality  variation  of 
milk  into  the  cooking  and  maturing  curd.  It  is  a  well-known 
fact  with  cheese  makers  that  no  two  vats  of  curd  will  scarcely 
ever  work  exactly  alike  in  succession.  If  one  is  to  know  ab- 
solutely just  what  to  do  and  what  to  leave  undone  at  certain 
moments  of  assimilation  and  maturity  in  curd,  he  must  have 
gained  that  knowledge  not  from  books  but  from  continued 
practical  experience.  Here  the  necessity  for  previous  learning 
arises.  No  pettifogger  would  be  expected  to  argue  legal 
points  before  the  Supreme  Court,  because  lack  of  advance- 
ment in  the  rudiments  of  his  profession  would  make  him  as 
unfit  for  such  a  pleader  as  a  farmer  or  merchant.  Every  man 
to  his  business,  and  no  man  to  be  trusted  in  any  trade  capacity 
until  he  has  proved  himself  competent.  So,  if  an  amateur 
lawyer  or  doctor  is  not  to  be  trusted,  why  should  responsi- 
bility be  placed  on  the  shoulders  of  a  green  hand  at  cheese 
making?  He  is  expected  to  properly  prepare  an  important 
article  of  human  food,  and,  inexperienced  and  ignorant  of  the 
rudiments  of  the  trade,  he  stumbles  along  in  the  dark,  doing, 
perhaps,  the  best  that  he  can,  and  not  so  much  to  blame  for  the 
failures  that  accrue  as  are  his  employers. 

Wide  dispersion  of  training  schools  for  both  butter  and 
cheese  makers  is  not  far  off,  and  I,  for  one,  hail  that  day  with 
delight. 


—28— 


WHERE  OUR  CHEESE  GOES  TO. 


After  contemplating  the  immensity  of  our  annual  cheese 
output,  the  question  naturally  arises,  "Where  does  it  all  go  to?" 
The  earliest  shipments  of  American  cheese  were  made  from 
New  York  to  England  in  1835  and  1836.  The  beginning  was 
very  limited;  shipments  of  cheese  were  made  in  casks;  $60,000 
would  probably  comprise  the  value  of  all  shipments  made  in 
those  years.  As  England  still  remains  our  principal  foreign 
customer,  we  will  come  down  to  the  year  1882  and  give  the 
official  figures  of  the  port  of  Xew  York  of  the  annual  receipts 
and  exports.  We  do  not  mean  to  intimate  that  England  takes 
all  of  our  exports,  but  she  absorbs  the  major  portion  of  them. 

Year.  Receipts.  Exports. 

Receipts  of  Cheese  in  New  York,  1882,    2,350,559     1,898,192 
"  •'  "  1883,     2,456,232     1,957,96V 

"  "  "  1884,     2,407,550     1,932,702 

"  "  "  1885,     2,122,187     1,658,696 

"  "  "  "  1886,     1,943,260     1,575,262 

"  "  "  1887,     1,994,857     1,450,955 

"  "  "  1888,     1,993,462 

The  1888  export  is  not  recorded  yet.  It  is  hard  to  get  at  the 
home  trade  quantity  used  throughout  the  country.  There  are 
many  cheese  distributed  from  factories  to  neighboring  towns 
in  Ohio,  Wisconsin,  Michigan  and  other  states  of  which  no 
account  is  kept,  and  there  are  no  statistics  covering  the  entire 
make,  but  at  a  guess  we  should  say  it  was  about  4,000,000 
boxes  annually.  The  cause  of  decline  in  receipts  at  the  port 
of  New  York  since  1882,  is  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  a  good 
many  cheese  made  in  the  northern  part  of  this  State  (N.  Y.) 
are  bought  by  Canadians  and  shipped  via  Montreal.  It  is  said 
that  Englishmen  eat  twelve  pounds  of  cheese  per  capita  a 
year,  while  Americans  eat  three  pounds.  Cheese  consump- 
tion is,  however,  on  the  increase  here,  as  the  healthy  and  nutri- 


—29— 

tive  qualities  of  the  product  are  more  aad  more  appreciated. 
One  of  the  most  serious  drawbacks  to  universal  cheese  con- 
sumption is  the  large  profits  exacted  by  middlemen  when 
they  dispense  it  to  the  public.  If  cheese  could  be  had  at  the 
grocery  for  9  or  10  cents  per  pound  instead  of  14  or  15  cents, 
it  would  be  found  in  abundance  on  the  poor  man's  table,  and 
a  heavy  decrease  in  the  export  trade  would  result.  We  believe 
that  such  a  time  is  coming,  and  with  it  will  come  a  vast 
improvement  in  the  average  quality  of  the  national  make. 
This  is  not  a  mere  speculation,  but  a  distinctive  pointer  of  the 
times,  and -its  verification  is  already  at  hand.  Thirty-five 
years  ago  the  innovation  of  the  cheddar  process  gave  cheese 
quality  its  first  great  advance.  That  advance  remains  yet  to 
be  perfected  in  detail,  and  then  a  cheese  millennium  will 
reign. 


MOISTURE  IN  CHEESE. 


One  of  the  most  essential  points  in  determining  the  quality 
of  a  cheese  is  the  amount  of  moisture  it  contains.  A  proper 
retention  of  moisture  by  the  product  in  a  cured  state  depends 
primarily  on  the  rennet  that  separated  it  from  the  watery 
serum  of  milk,  and  secondly  on  the  amount  of  heat  applied  in 
cooking,  and  the  quantity  of  salt  afterwards  added.  To  ad- 
just all  these  little  niceties  to  a  minimum  of  fine,  even  quality 
of  which  moisture  is  an  adjunct,  requires  experience  and  long 
familiarity  with  the  handling  and  treatment  of  milk.  Butter, 
moisture  and  caseine  should  exist  in  about  equal  parts  to  make 
a  mellow  cheese,  and,  to  fix  the  proportion  rightly,  enough 
rennet  should  be  incorporated  into  the  milk  to  expel  all  excess 
of  moisture,  and  yet  leave  enough  to  withstand  the  effect  of 
a  heat  judiciously  gauged  to  cook  it.  Thus,  rennet  influences 
moisture  on  the  start,  and  other  forces  afterward  are  intro- 
duced that  either  aid  or  retard  it.     When  rennet  diffuses  itself 


—so- 
through  milk  its  power  and  potency  are  largely  measured  by 
the  temperature  of  the  fluid  1)ody  surrounding  it.  As  cheese 
making  is  merely  an  imitation  of  nature's  workings  in  curd- 
ling milk  in  a  calf's  stomach,  the  nearer  we  can  follow  that 
process  on  the  start,  the  closer  to  perfection  we  get.  Long 
experience  has  demonstrated  that  a  temperature  between  80^ 
and  850  Fahrenheit  is  the  best  degree  of  warmth  for  milk  to 
have  attained  when  it  receives  the  peptic  fluid.  A  tempera- 
ture above  that  expels  the  butter  globules  into  the  whey,  and 
below,  the  active  principle  of  remiet  is  not  brought  out  and 
tardily  and  incompletely  coagulates  the  mild  solids.  By  after- 
ward applying  the  lowest  degree  of  heat  that  will  cook  it 
within  a  reasonable  time  to  a  consistency  of  contraction  and  ex- 
pansion, the  moisture  still  remains  in  proper  proportion.  A 
few  degrees  of  excess  heat  will  produce  a  dry,  hard  curd,  and 
a  future  dry,  hard  cheese.  Judgment,  discretion  and  experi- 
ence are  necessary  in  applying  salt  to  retain  moisture.  Salt 
itself  is,  of  course,  a  moisture  retainer,  but  a  too  heavy  appli- 
cation hardens  and  stiffens  the  cheese  structure  and  retards 
the  curing  of  the  product.  Never  salt  more  than  enough  to 
give  and  retain  flavor  and  preserve  quality.  If  the  points  we 
have  given  above  have  all  been  observed,  then  the  proper  pro- 
portion of  moisture  in  cheese  will  be  assured. 

Prominent  English  cheese  judges  have  passed  verdicts  on 
fine  cheese  in  the  following  words  :  "  We  want  cheese  rich, 
solid,  fine  flavored,  true  colored,  that  is,  of  an  even  color 
throughout,  sound,  handsome,  that  will  go  on  to  improve  for 
twelve  months  or  longer  if  desired.''  "A  good  cheese  is  close 
and  firm  in  texture,  yet  mellow;  in  character  or  quality  it  is 
rich  with  a  tendency  to  melt  in  the  mouth;  the  flavor  full  and 
fine,  apparently  that  of  a  hazel-nut."  "  The  characteristics  of 
a  good  cheese  are  mellow  and  rich  in  taste  and  flavor,  and 
firm  and  full  in  texture,  solid  but  not  tough."  "A  good 
cheese  is  rich  without  being  greasy,  with  a  sweet,  nutt5^  flavor, 


—31— 

clear  and  equal  color  tbroughoiit,  and  of  a  compact,  solid  text- 
ure, without  being  waxy;  firm,  and  yet  melts  easily  in  the 
mouth,  leaving  no  rough  or  ill  flavor  on  the  palate."  The 
English  conception  of  peerless  cheese  is  ours,  too,  and  we 
must  continue  to  grind  away  on  the  road  of  improvement  until 
we  bring  the  united  product  to  the  standard  of  unimpeachable 
quality  and  uniformity. 


RULE  FOR  MAKING  OUT  DIVIDENDS. 


Many^  makers  are  now  expected  to  figure  out  the  milk 
dividends  for  the  j^atrons,  and  issue  fortnightly  statements. 
A  quick,  easy  rule  to  follow  in  doing  this  business,  is  to  first 
foot  up  each  patron's  milk  for  the  number  of  days'  delivery  in 
one  or  two  sales,  as  the  case  may  be,  draw  a  line  across 
the  page  of  the  factory  account  book  opposite  the  date 
sold  up  to,  and,  as  you  add  each  man's  milk,  set  the 
amount  down  opposite  his  name  on  the  tally  slate.  After 
you  have  summed  it  all  up,  go  over  it  again,  adding  from  the 
top  of  the  columns  downward.  This  will  correct  any  mis- 
takes you  may  have  made.  Next,  add  the  separate  sums  of 
milk  together  into  one  grand  total  and,  using  this  united  sum. 
for  a  dividend,  take  the  number  of  pounds  of  cheese  in  the 
sale  or  sales  for  a  divisor,  and  the  quotient  will  be  the  ratio 
or  the  number  of  pounds  of  milk  it  has  taken  to  make  a 
pound  of  cheese.  Then,  multiply  the  number  of  pounds  of 
cheese  by  the  price  per  100  pounds  you  get  for  making,  and 
deduct  the  product  from  the  full  cash  amount  that  the  cheese 
has  brought.  The  residue  money  divide  up  proportionately 
among  the  patrons  as  follows  :  Using  the  grand  total  of  milk 
for  a  divisor,  see  how  many  times  it  is  contained  in  the 
money,  minus  cost  of  making.  The  quotient  will  be  the  net 
price  of  one  hundred  pounds  of  milk.  Multiply  each  patron's 
separate  amount  of   milk   by   this  price   per  hundred  pounds. 


—33— 

and  the  product  will  be  the  net  monied  income  on  that  sale 
or  sales  for  the  patron.  In  getting  the  price  of  a  pound 
of  milk  it  is  seldom  necessary  to  carry  decimally  be- 
yond mills.  In  a  measure,  the  work  all  proves  itself,  for,  if, 
by  adding  together  the  face  value  of  each  patron's  check,  the 
amount  does  not  agree  with  the  cheese  returns,  less  making, 
your  figuring  will  need  a  review. 

It  is  customary  now  to  send  out  with  each  check  a  state- 
ment demonstrating  and  setting  forth  just  how  the  factory 
business  is  running.  Thus,  each  patron  becomes  a  critic  of 
the  secretary.     I  append  a  statement  properly  filled  out : 

SALE    STATEMENT. 

Plainfield,  N.  Y.,  June  20,  1889. 
E.  W.  WRIGHT'S  CHEESE  FACTORY. 

in  account  with 
Mk.  John  Williams. 
Sold  from   May    14th   to   29th. 

No.  Boxes, 168 

Total  Milk, 69,779 

Total  Cheese, 7,026 

Price  per  pound,  3,434  @  8^0.   3,592  @  8|c. 

Ratio, 9.93 

Net  price  per  100  pounds  Milk, 71.3 

Your  Milk, 8,336 

Amount  less  making, $59.43 


THE  WHEY  VAT. 


The  whey  vat  may  be  regarded  as  a  necessary  evil,  but 
with  means  at  hand  to  relieve  ourselves  of  some  of  its  putre- 
factive characteristics.  We  trust  that  the  day  for  having  this 
swill  tub  harnessed  to  the  factory  will  soon  be  an  item  of 
the  shady  past.  Whey  is  all  right  in  its  place,  but  its  place, 
as  soon  as  it  is  drained  from  the  curd,  is  a  long  distance  from 


—33— 

the  factory  building.  I  would  place  the  whey  vat  ten  rods 
away  from  the  factory,  and  if  night  delivery  of  milk  was  the 
rule,  I  would  move  it  tirenty  rods  off.  Get  it  at  least  beyond 
contaminating  distance,  and  then  have  the  whey  carried  to  it 
in  open  tin  troughs.  If  the  troughs  are  thoroughly  painted 
you  need  not  fear  rust,  and  as  they  are  of  metal  they  cannot 
dry  up,  warp  and  leak.  Have  the  spouts  about  the  factory 
perfectly  tight  so  that  no  whey  can  fall  to  the  ground,  for  it 
is  fearful  stuff  to  generate  offensive  effluvia.  Try  and  keep 
the  whey  receptacle  as  neat  and  clean  as  possible,  Have  it 
roofed,  but  open  on  the  sides.  Skim  the  cream  from  it  every 
morning,  and  it  would  be  much  better  if  you  would  churn  it- 
fresh  instead  of  keeping  it  for  weeks  to  be  rendered  out  in  a 
kettle  by  fire.  Scrub  the  vat  out  every  day  with  a  broom  ; 
it  will  take  five  minutes'  time  and  a  pailful  of  hot  water. 
Make  it  a  rule  for  each  patron  to  draw  away  no  more  than  three 
pails  of  whey  for  every  hundred  pounds  of  milk  delivered. 
Also,  make  it  a  rule  to  yard  nobody's  pigs  or  calves  about  the 
premises  for  convenient  whey  slopping.  Insist  on  it  that  if 
your  patrons  insist  on  drawing  sour  whey  home  in  their  milk 
cans  they  put  on  extra  "  elbow  grease "  afterward  in 
cleansing  them.  A  cheese  maker  hardly  likes  to  make  the 
imputation  to  patrons  that  their  wives  are  not  neat  (only,  per- 
haps, when  they  are  in  a  great  hurry)  about  scalding  out  the 
sour  whey  from  milk  cans,  and  yet  such  insinuations  on  his 
part  are  often  necessary. 


WHYS  AND  WHEREFORES. 


Curd  is  first  cut  with  the  horizontal  knife,  to  facilitate 
easy  expulsion  of  the  whey. 

Cheese  is  a  good  edible,  because,  besides  being  highly  nu- 
tritive, the  rennet  or  gastic  juice  it  contains  aids  digestion  and 
the  assimilation  of  other  foods. 


—34— 

Whey  should  never  be  fed  to  cows,  because,  having  once 
been  secreted  in  their  mammilary  glands  in  the  form  of  milk, 
it  has  now  taken  on  the  nature  of  an  excrement;  consequently, 
a  re-secretion  would  be  highly  prejudicial  to  the  quality  and 
healthfulness  of  the  product. 

It  was  formerly  supposed  that  febrine  was  exclusively  a 
constituent  of  animal  blood;  but  now  the  theory  that  slight 
traces  of  it  in  milk  induce  rennet  coagulation  is  generally  ac- 
cepted as  authentic. 

If  a  cheese  is  misshapen,  by  uneven  pressing  or  otherwise, 
when  taken  from  the  hoop,  put  it  back  and  press  it  over 
again.  Remember  that  appearance  goes  a  long  way  with 
dealers.  Do  not  tolerate  any  cheese  in  the  room  that  are  de- 
formed. 

Cheese  makers  should  insist  that  patrons  with  large  messes 
of  milk  set  their  night's  yield  in  two  cans,  thoroughly  air  the 
fluid,  by  stirring  or  dipping  immediately  subsequent  to  milk- 
ing, and  then  dump  both  portions  together  in  the  morning, 
so  as  not  to  mix  night's  and  morning's  milk  until  it  is  mixed 
in  common  in  the  cheese  vat.  If  this  rule  is  insisted  upon 
and  faithfully  observed,  a  great  deal  of  damaged  milk  will  be 
avoided. 

A  quack  doctor  should  as  soon  be  granted  a  diploma  to 
practice,  as  an  ignorant  apprentice  at  cheese  making  be  given 
the  responsibility  of  the  manufacture  of  a  vat  of  milk.  The 
health  of  the  community  is  in  great  danger  from  both  frauds. 

Cheese  that  are  surface  mottled,  spread  the  bandage  and 
show  a  soft,  weak  rind,  have  been  insufficiently  cooked.  The 
remedy  lies  in  a  more  upward  tendency  of  the  mercury. 

The  art  of  cheese  making  cannot  be  learned  wholly  from 
paper,  because  variations  of  milk  quality  constantly  clash  with 
regular  modes  of  procedure.     Here  the  practical  experience 


—35— 

and  sound  judgment  of  the  maker  must  intervene  and  offset 
the  lacteal  variation,  by  appropriate  changes  in  the  manner  of 
working  the  product. 

Making  good  cheese  out  of  poor  milk  is  much  talked  of  by 
makers  and  considered  quite  an  accomplishment.  It  consists 
in  clothing  the  product  in  a  glamour  of  deception,  propagating 
dyspepsia  and  shielding  careless  dairymen. 

Skimmed  cheese  is  dry  and  tasteless  and  unfit  for  human 
food,  because  the  meat  has  been  extracted,  and  the  shell  left. 
It  should  take  a  back  seat  on  the  bench  of  humilation  beside 
oleomargerine. 

When  whey  sparkles  it  is  sour. 

When  raw  curd  settles  quickly  after  being  cut  up,  it  is  a 
signal  that  it  is  aging  rapidly  and  developing  acid.  White 
scum  on  the  whey  indicates  the  presence  of  acid. 

Butter  exuding  slightly  from  the  hoops  of  pressing  cheese 
tells  of  acid  and  bespeaks  a  fine  quality  of  goods.  Butter  ex- 
uding in  excessive  quantity  from  the  hoops  is  proof  that  the 
milk  has  either  been  violently  shaken  up  over  rough  roads  or 
has  been  set  at  a  very  high  temperature. 

You  cannot  get  a  good  rind  on  a  poor  quality  of  cheese; 
you  can  always  have  a  perfect  rind  on  one  of  good  quality. 
Thus,  in  one  sense,  the  rind  indicates  the  quality. 

"Cleanliness  is  next  to  godliness"  about  a  factory,  because, 
milk  being  an  animal  fluid  it  is  of  nitrogenous  composition, 
and  the  waste  that  accrues  from  it  on  decomposition  becomes 
the  most  fetid  carrion. 

Buttermilk  added  to  sweet  milk  in  making  cheese  is  a 
diabolical  habit,  the  object,  nowadays,  being  not  to  produce 
cheese  from  slop  but  from  pure,  wholesome  milk  alone. 

Airing  curds  thoroughly  after  salting  is  necessary  to  expel 
gaseous  odors.  The  improved  quality  of  the  cheese  will  re- 
pay every  maker  for  doing  it. 


—36— 

Never  cease  to  agitate  the  question  of  only  six  days'  labor 
in  the  week  for  the  cheese  maker.  Agitate  it,  because  God 
has  laid  it  down  as  a  commandment  for  all  mankind,  and  na- 
ture inexorably  exacts  from  the  physicial  forces  every  viola- 
tion of  the  rule. 

Keep  the  curing  room  at  an  even  temperature  of  from  65° 
to  70*^  Fahrenheit,  because  a  less  amount  of  heat  might  sour 
the  green  cheese  on  the  shelves  and  more  warmth  might  cause 
them  to  lose  butter  to  the  point  of  off  flavor. 

Keep  the  surface  of  cheese  impervious  to  fly  attacks  and 

you  will  never  be  troubled  with  skippers. 

Never   use   sour   press   clothes  on   cheese,  not  only  from 

sense  of  neatness,   but  because   the   rank  acid  wdll  check  the 

rind. 

If  you  are  caught  with  a  soft  curd  on  your  hands,  one  that 

has  soured  so  quickly  that  you  have  had  no  opportunity  to  give 

it  a  firm  cook,  grind  it  twice  and  stir  it  more  than  usual.     This 

will  reduce  pulpy  lumps,  add  stability  to  the  curd  and  prevent 

the  cheese  from  spreading  out  of  shape  in  the  bandage. 

Rennet  is  the  life  and  soul  of  cheese,  as  much  depending 
on  its  efiicacy  as  on  yeast  in  bread.  Excessive  heat  stifles  and 
kills  out  its  virtue  and  leaves  the  cheese  structure  dead  and 
indigestible.  Makers  should  bear  this  fact  in  mind  and  never 
allow  the  cooking  curd  to  rest  long  on  the  bottom  of  the  vat. 

The  rennet  jar  should  never  be  covered,  as  nothing  can  be 
mentioned  that  is  more  liable  to  contract  fetid  taint  than  these 
skins.  Exclusion  of  air  from  the  vessel  in  which  they  are 
soaking  is  extremely  liable  to  spoil  them  in  spite  of  the  salt 
the  liquor  contains. 

In  weighing  patrons'  milk  at  the  factory,  the  scales  should 
be  balanced  down  and  up  weight  taken.  To  the  uninitiated 
this  might  at  first  seem  an  injustice,  but  a  little  experience 
will  soon  show  that  it  is  imperatively  necessary.  The  dealers 
to  whom  the  cheese  are  consigned  exact  stiff  up  weight,  and 


—37— 

if  the  same  is  not  taken  at  tlie  milk  delivery  window,  woe  be 
to  the  ratio.  As  all  patirons  are  served  alike  in  the  premises? 
no  loss  or  injustice  accrues  to  any  one  and  the  maker  is  in  a 
position  to  deal  as  he  is  being  dealt  with. 

Pulverize  salt  thoroughly  before  sprinkling  it  over  the 
curd.  Hard  lumps  will  not  dissolve  and  will  produce  cauter- 
ized spots  through  the  cheese. 

During  the  hot  weather  of  summer  remember  that  curd 
will  stand  a  third  more  souring,  and  yet  come  down  into  mel- 
low cheese,  than  it  would  earlier  or  later  in  the  season.  Rear- 
ing this  fact  in  mind  gives  a  maker  mental  relief  when  he  has 
a  curd  that  has  the  start  of  him  on  acid  and  yet  afterward 
comes  out  all  right,  perhaps  making  the  best  cheese  in  the 
room. 

Saving  curd  over  to  mix  in  with  the  next  day's  cheese  is 
not  desirable,  but  it  is  often  unavoidable,  as  cheese  of  as  even 
weight  as  possible  are  always  waited.  Take  the  curd  to  be 
saved  over  and  put  it  in  a  bag  of  bandage  cloth.  Mix  into 
it  an  extra  handful  of  salt,  in  order  to  prevent  too  much  sour- 
ing, and  hang  the  sack  in  a  cool,  dry  place.  The  next  day, 
just  prior  to  drawing  the  whey,  empty  the  old  curd  into  the 
vat  and  stir  it  up  with  the  new. 

There  are  sometimes  extreme  cases  of  butter  separation 
from  the  cooked  casine.  I  have  seen  where  butter  would  set- 
tle in  the  seams  and  cavities  of  cheese,  to  the  almost  utter 
ruination  of  the  product  and  the  distraction  of  the  maker  be- 
cause he  could  not  discern  and  stop  the  cause.  There  are 
many  causes,  some  of  which  are  beyond  the  power  of  the 
maker  to  remedy,  such  as  churning  the  milk  in  drawing  it  to 
the  factory  over  stony  roads,  etc.  But  he  can  prevent  too  high 
heat  at  setting  time,  and  he  can  manipulate  milk  with  gentle- 
ness before  the  rennet  is  added. 

In  consigning  cheese  to  market  always  put  the  consignor's 
on  the  side  instead  of  one  cover  of  the  box.     Covers  are  apt 


—38— 

to  come  off  m  transit  and  get  mixed  with  those  of  other  con- 
signments, entailing  much  trouble  to  those  concerned. 

When  coagulated  milk  has  reached  the  right  consistency  to 
cut  up,  draw  the  curd  knife  through  it  at  a  moderate  speed, 
truly  and  unwaveringly.  The  cutting  behind  an  experienced 
hand  will  expel  whey  clear  and  green  in  color.  In  this  item 
of  procedure  let  your  hand  be  counted  among  the  experienced. 


POTENT  MAXIMS  FOR  THE  CHEESE  MAKER. 


Keep  a  perfectly  sweet,  clean  vat  and  spotless,  shining  ap- 
paratus and  utensils. 

Make  an  olfactoiy  test  of  every  mess  of  milk  before  it  is 
dumped  into  the  weighing  can,  and  reject  all  that  is  tainted, 
unclean  or  tending  toward  the  sour,  as  by  the  acceptance  of 
such  injured  milk  you  damage  your  own  trade  reputation,  de- 
tract from  the  dividend  of  every  patron  who  furnishes  perfect 
milk  and  irreparably  wrong  every  consumer  of  the  cheese. 

Insist  on  each  one  of  your  patrons  straining  their  milk 
through  a  fine  cloth  strainer  of  double  thickness,  and  use  the 
same  yourself  for  it  to  pass  through  into  the  vat. 

In  heating  up  your  milk  to  a  temperature  to  meet  a  recep- 
tion of  the  rennet,  stir  it  frequently  and  gently. 

Xever  set  above  86*^  Fahrenheit  in  spring  and  fall  and  84^ 
in  summer. 

Remember  that  too  high  heat  before  setting  separates  the 
butter  globules  from  the  milk  structure  and  that  they  are  sub- 
sequently lost  in  the  whey. 

Use  nothing  but  stone  jars  for  keeping  rennet.  If  a  mess 
of  rennet  worth,  perhaps,  a  dollar  should  get  slightly  tainted, 
throw  it  away  rather  than  impregnate  it  through  $200  worth 
of  cheese  and  cause  serious  illness  among  numerous  human 
beings. 


—39— 

Use  only  annottoine  cut  directly  from  the  seed  by  the 
chemical  action  of  potash. 

The  imputation  that  urine  is  used  in  the  paste  preparation 
should  make  every  manufacturer  shun  it  with  loathing  until 
the  vile  stigma  is  disproved. 

Be  at  least  five  minutes  in  stirring  the  rennet  into  milk. 
Stir  it  with  great  gentleness,  so  that  the  butter  globules  will 
not  be  displaced. 

Curd  should  stand  not  less  than  forty  or  more  than  sixty 
minutes  after  the  application  of  rennet  before  cutting,  the  var- 
iation in  time  to  be  governed  by  season,  condition  of  milk  and 
desired  keeping  qualities.  Curd  is  fit  to  cut  up  when  it  will 
split  clean  before  the  finger  but  is  not  so  brittle  as  to  break 
before  the  advancing  knife.  Cut  first  with  the  horizontal 
knife  lengthway,  then  crossway,  then  lengthway  with  the  per- 
pendicular blade.  If  milk  is  very  ripe,  and  a  quick  scald  is 
necessary,  cut  once  more  crossway  with  the  perpendicular  blade. 
Never  slash  curd  in  cutting,  as  it  starts  milky  whey  and  lowers 
your  yield. 

After  cutting  curd  if  milk  is  in  normal  condition,  it  is, 
perhaps,  better  to  agitate  the  curd  gently  for  a  few  moments 
before  heat  is  applied.  If  milk  has  already  taken  on  acid, 
apply  heat  immediately  after  cutting.  In  agitating  curd  use 
the  hands  for  the  first  fifteen  minutes,  then  manipulate  it  with 
a  rake. 

Stir  only  enough  to  keep  it  separated  and  prevent  it  from 
scorching  on  the  hot  bottom  of  the  vat. 

Remember  that  cooking  curd  thoroughly  is,  without  doubt, 
the  most  important  part  of  the  whole  programme  of  cheese 
making. 

Do  not  place  sole  reliance  on  thermometer  figures — let 
your  judgment  rule  supreme  above  that.  See  that  every 
day's  curd — the  product  of  milk  in  all  stages  of  maturity — 
does  not  part   with   the   whey  until  it  is  cooked  to  a  state  of 


—40— 
contractibility  in  which  the  cubes  will  separate  by  expansion 
after  pressure  by  squeezing  in  the  hand.  No  maker  considers 
his  bread  free  from  rawness  until  it  has  received  a  certain 
amount  of  heat  in  the  oven,  and  no  cheese  maker  can  expect 
to  get  a  mellow,  firm  cheese  unless  he  cooks  his  curd  as  above 
described.  By  using  the  smallest  amount  of  heat  possible  to 
cook  curd  within  a  reasonable  time,  a  finer  quality  of  cheese 
is  secured  and  a  better  yield. 

Hold  curd  in  the  whey  until  it  will  string  fine  threads,  one- 
fourth  of  an  inch  in  length,  on  the  hot  iron. 

Aim  to  have  the  whey  well  drained  out  of  the  curd  before 
it  is  ground.  Do  not  grind  curd  when  it  is  too  hot.  If  nec- 
essary, cut  into  small  blocks  or  strips  and  scatter  over  the 
bottom  of  the  vat,  to  cool  to  a  temperature  to  about  85° 
Fahrenheit  before  grinding. 

Cheese  makers  should  not  be  too  much  wedded  to  fixed 
rules.  For  instance,  do  not  always  hold  curd  in  the  whey 
until  it  shows  a  quarter  of  an  inch  of  acid  by  the  iron  simply 
because  it  may  be  a  rule.  Let  your  judgment  rise  su- 
preme over  all  rules.  Frequently,  through  the  summer 
there  are  cool  nights  when  the  milk  keeps  so  sweet  that  the 
next  day  no  acid  will  show  by  the  time  you  have  the  curd 
thoroughly  cooked.  At  such  times,  as  an  experiment,  draw  off 
the  whey  sweet  and  let  the  curd  develop  acid  in  the  pack. 
For  your  particular  locality,  quality  of  milk  and  character  of 
feed,  such  a  method  may  produce  finer  cheese  than  if  soured 
in  the  whey,  and  it  may  not.  You  must  test  all  of  these  little 
details  to  find  out. 

Two  pounds  of  salt  and  the  fractional  parts  of  a  third 
pound,  up  to  sixteen  ounces  per  1,000  pounds  of  milk,  covers 
the  cheese  maker's  scale  for  the  season  in  this  department. 
As  a  rule,  two  pounds  in  the  spring,  with  a  gradual  ascend- 
ancy in  quantity  as  the  apex  of  hot  weather  approaches,  and 
then    a    declination   in    quantity    toward    fall,    is  about    the 


—41— 

average  amount  used  per  l,Ol>0  pounds  of  milk  for  the  Ched- 
dar process.  There  are  more  makers  who  do  not  salt  above 
two  and  a  half  pounds  in  hot  weather  than  there  are  who 
use  three  pounds.  High  salting  retards  curing,  and  the  ob- 
ject now  is  to  get  a  new  cheese  onto  the  market  as  quickly  as 
possible.  With  a  wet  curd  salt  a  little  more  than  the  rule 
by  which  you  are  running,  so  as  to  make  up  the  loss  that  goes 
out  with  the  whev. 


CHEESE  FOR  THE  BRITISH  MARKET. 


This  quality  of  goods,  generally  known  as  "  shipping 
cheese,"  is  made  by  the  same  process  that  we  have  described 
in  this  book  with  the  exception  that  it  is,  or  should  be, 
worked  down  more.  "  Worked  doAvn '"  implies  that  a  firmer 
cheese  is  produced,  one  cooked  more,  salted  a  tritie  higher 
and  soured  more.  These  requisites  lend  a  cheese  body 
and  prolong  its  keeping  qualities.  With  all  this,  it  must 
be  mellow,  close  textured  and  fine  flavored.  The  English 
consumer  wants  such  a  cheese,  or  he  wants  none.  "  A  word 
to  the  wise  is  sufficient." 


SKIMMED  CHEESE. 


Making  edible  skimmed  cheese  is  an  effort  to  supply  a 
constituent  for  the  product  that  does  not  exist,  namely, 
oleaginous  matter.  The  butter  or  cream  in  milk  is  what 
gives  rich  flavor  and  mellow  body  to  cheese.  When  a  part 
or  whole  of  this  is  removed  by  the  skimmer,  the  depleted 
fluid,  if  manufactured  into  cheese,  just  as  that  containing  all  of 
the  cream  would  be,  will  make  dry,  tasteless  stuff.  Skimmed 
cheese  must  be  cooked,  soured  and  salted  less  than  full  cream. 
Flat  skims  can  often  be  scalded  at  93<^  and  94^  Fahrenheit. 
But,  of  course,  this  must  be  governed  entirely  by  the  rules 
relatino;  to  thorough  cooking. 


—42— 

FLOATING  CURD. 


Floating  curd  emanates  from  the  rankest  known  species 
of  tainted  milk.  The  curd  is  surfeited  with  offensive,  poison- 
ous gas,  that  holds  in  check  the  acid  and  will  inhabit  the  curd 
until  its  life  has  died  out.  All  the  cheese  maker  can  do  is 
to  wait  patiently  until  its  existence  has  ended  and  the  curd, 
ceasing  to  be  inflative,  develops  acid.  Then  grind  and  salt 
the  usual  amount,  airing  by  thorough  stirring  for  an  hour  or 
more,  with  doors  and  windows  open,  to  expel  the  taint.  Let 
it  sour  in  the  pack.  If  ground  and  salted  before  gas  has  left 
it,  the  cheese  will  huff  up  like  puff  balls. 


BOXING  CHEESE  FOR  MARKET. 


After  the  cheese  designed  for  shipment  are  selected,  ex- 
amine every  one  and  look  to  it  that  there  are  no  surface  short- 
comings; if  there  are,  the  discrepancy  must  be  remedied. 
Aim  to  have  the  cheese  go  into  the  package  neat  and  attract- 
ive in  appearance.  A  lirm,  elastic  rind,  well  oiled,  and  a 
spotless  bandage  cloth,  if  forming  the  cuticle  of  a  squarely- 
built,  well-shaped  cheese,  is  all  in  the  line  of  the  appearance 
that  is  desired  by  dealers  and  retailers.  In  weighing  the 
cheese,  give  good  up  weight,  taking  no  account  of  anything 
less  than  a  pound.  Use  the  best  quality  of  scale  boards  and 
boxes  obtainable,  and  have  the  latter  lit  the  cheese  snugly. 
After  a  cheese  is  weighed,  place  a  scale  board  on  the  top  end 
and  shove  a  box  onto  it.  Flop  box  and  cheese  over  and,  as 
the  latter  settles  into  tie  case,  mark  the  weight  on  the  side 
of  the  box.  If  the  box  is  too  high,  shave  the  rim  down  to  the 
cheese  surface  and  place  on  a  scale  board  and  then  cover.  It 
is  imperative  that  the  covers  lit  tightly  and  snugly,  and  that 
any  superfluous  rim  on  the  box  be  shaved  off.      No  cheese  is 


—43— 

properly  prepared  for  transportation  unless  it  is  so  tight  in 
the  box  that  it  cannot  shift  and  knock  about.  Brand  the 
boxes  in  a  neat,  workman-like  manner,  having  the  lettering 
show  plainly  and  distinctly.  Then  your  cheese  are  ready 
for  the  freight  car  or  the  vessel's  hold. 

Cheese  are  often  slightly  mouldy  on  their  bandaged  sides 
when  cured  in  damp,  warm  weather.  To  obviate  this,  when 
boxing,  rub  the  sides  thoroughly  with  a  dry,  soft  cloth  and 
do  not  box  until  just  before  shipping.  Xo  cheese  should  be 
placed  in  boxes  in  hot  weather  until  a  few  hours  before  trans- 
portation. Standing  for  several  days  in  tight  packages  and 
exposed  to  a  high  temperature,  will  not  only  try  the  quality 
of  cheese  but  will  positively  injure  the  flavor  of  the  very 
bej>t.  If  they  could  all  go  to  their  destination  in  refrigerator 
cars,  this  evil  would  be  greatly  ameliorated.  With  the 
facilities  at  hand,  however,  aim  to  place  them  on  the  market 
in  as  neat  a  shape  as  they  rested  on  your  curing  room 
shelves. 


THE  HOT  IRON  TEST. 


I  do  not  know  what  cheese  makers  would  do  nowadays  with- 
out the  hot  iron  to  guide  them  in  evenly  maturing  curd.  It  is 
one  of  the  most  essential  attributes  of  making.  It  should,  of 
course,  be  most  judiciously  used. 

In  1845,  Mr.  L.  M.  Norton,  of  Goshen,  Conn.,  discovered 
that  the  acid  in  curd  could  be  gauged  by  stringing  threads 
from  a  heated  iron.  He  kept  the  discovery  a  secret  for  a  long 
time  but  at  last  divulged  it. 

To  supply  yourself  with  a  handy  instrument  for  testing 
acid,  take  a  three-quarter  inch  bar  of  iron  a  foot  long  and  set 
one  end  into  a  ferrule  on  a  wooden  handle.  It  can  then  be 
conveniently  handled  without  burning  the  fingers.  Heat  the 
metal  a  little  hotter  than  desired  and  then  thrust  for  a  moment 


—44— 

into  a  bucket  of  water,  to  thoroughly  clean  the  surface.  Hold- 
ing it  in  the  left  hand,  take  a  piece  of  curd  squeezed  dry  of 
whey  and  press  against  the  iron.  If  it  does  not  adhere  at  all, 
the  curd  is  perfectly  sweet,  no  matter  how  it  may  smell  to  you. 
If  it  clings  slightly,  you  may  be  assured  that  acid  is  beginning 
to  develop,  so  keep  close  watch  of  it.  Curd  ought  never  to 
string  out  threads  more  than  one-fourth  of  an  inch  long  before 
whey  is  drawn,  and  oftentimes  less  is  desirable. 

Have  the  iron  at  just  the  right  temperature  or  you  cannot 
make  an  accurate  test.  A  right  temperature  implies  that  the 
iron  is  so  hot  that  the  curd  will  fry  around  the  edges  when 
pressed  against  it,  but  not  so  hot  that  it  will  scorch  over. 

Tainted  and  floating  curds  will  often  string  threads  six 
inches  and  mora  in  length,  and  then  not  be  fitted  to  grind  and 
salt.  As  soon  as  acid  has  overcome  the  gaseous  condition  of 
such  curd  so  that  the  inflation  will  subside,  it  is  ready  to  grind, 
but  not  before.  Cheese  makers  should  not  be  afraid  of  sour- 
ino-  and  airinsf  such  curd  too  much. 


MILK. 

In  the  manufacture  of  cheese  the  constituents  of  milk 
demand  our  first  attention,  as  we  cannot  intelligently  study  a 
subject  without  investigating  its  primary  j^rinciples.  Cow's 
milk  contains  : 

Water 864  parts. 

Nitrogenous  matter  (caseine  and  albumen) 43      " 

Sugar  of  milk 52      " 

Fat 37      " 

Mineral  salts 4      " 

1,000 
The  solids  represented  above  are  in  the  form  of  minute 
globules,  and  the  serum  in  which  they  float  is  the  water  or 


"  whey."  It  is  to  unite  these  globules  and  separate  them 
from  the  whey  that  is  the  primary  function  of  cheese  making. 
It  so  happens  that  rennet,  the  active  agent  in  this  process, 
besides  exerting  an  automatic,  chemical  action  on  milk, 
imparts  to  the  solids  new  and  vigorous  properties  that  give 
cheese  a  medicinal  value  to  the  human  stomach,  namely, 
an  inceptor  of  digestion.  It  is  imperative  that  a  cheese 
maker  understands  enough  about  milk  to  instantly  detect  the 
slightest  change  from  its  sweet,  pure,  normal  condition. 
Milk  as  a  fluid  is  highly  sensitive  to  unclean  odors,  and  when 
it  absorbs  them  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  the  maker  should, 
by  an  olfactory  test,  discover  the  taint.  Milk  that  has  been 
tainted  by  a  retention  of  the  animal  heat,  not  having  been 
cooled  when  freshly  drawn,  will  give  off  a  rank,  burned  smell, 
nauseous  in  the  extreme.  If  the  taint  was  absorbed  from 
odors,  the  peculiar  scent  of  the  particular  stench  will  be 
indelibly  impressed  on  the  fluid.  Mature  or  sour  milk  is 
more  to  be  desired  for  cheese  manufacture  than  milk  poisoned 
by  taint.  In  fact,  a  slight  maturity  of  milk  is  necessary — or, 
at  least,  desirable —  to  produce  a  fine  cheese,  the  same  as 
mature  cream  is  required  to  develop  good  butter,  only  in  the 
former  the  "ripeness"  must  be  scarcely  perceptible,  while  in 
the  latter  it  must  be  well  advanced.  All  tainted  milk,  and  all 
milk  that  is  "old"  and  nearly  sour,  should  be  unconditionally 
rejected  at  the  cheese  factory  for  manufacture.  Do  not  be 
afraid  af  financially  losing  by  such  a  rule.  It  is  none  too 
stringent,  and  in  the  end  it  will  give  your  goods  a  trade  repu- 
tation that  will  be  secure  and  impregnable.  The  idea  that 
really  good  cheese  can  be  made  out  of  poor  milk  is  disproved 
by  chemistry  and  common  sense. 


SALT. 

One  of  tlie  most  important  factors  in  cheese  making  is  the 
saline  mineral  known  as  salt.     A  cheese  can  be  manufactured 


—46— 

gilt-edged  in  every  way,  but  if  it  contains  no  salt,  an  insuffi- 
cient quantity  of  it  or  that  which  is  of  weak,  inferior 
quality,  it  is  simply  a  mass  of  perishable,  nitrogenous  matter 
that  will  soon  go  to  putrefaction.  Salt  checks  the  growth 
of  the  lactic  acid  as  quickly  as  a  rush  of  air  snuffs  out  a  can- 
dle; therefore,  it  has* complete  control  over  the  quality  of  the 
cheese  in  this  direction.  It  preserves  that  quality  for  an  in- 
definite time,  provided  it  exists  in  a  sufficient  proportion  and 
the  cheese  has  been  scientifically  made.  Then,  again,  salt 
gives  firmness  and  flavor  to  the  cheese. 

Thus,  perceiving  that  cheese,  as  a  component  of  human 
food,  could  not  exist  without  salt,  the  analogy  between  the  pu- 
rity of  that  article  and  the  fine  quality  of  cheese  is  at  once  ap- 
parent. It  is  needless  to  advise  the  use  of  nothing  but  a  fine, 
pure  grade  of  salt  for  savoring  cheese.  Perhaps,  instead  of 
needless,  it  is  needful  to  admonish  manufacturers  in  this  re- 
gard. I  regret  to  say  that  I  have  observed  many  who  held 
false  ideas  of  economy  about  so  cheap  an  article  as  this  briny 
product.  A  difference  of  twenty-five  cents  on  a  barrel  would 
'turn  their  judgment  in  favor  of  the  cheaper,  coarser  article, 
and,  while  really  the  losers  thereby,  they  would  feel  com- 
placent over  a  supposed  gain. 

It  is  just  such  little  slights  as  this — substituting  poor  for 
good  salt — that  help  make  up  the  discrepancy  in  quality 
already  perceptible  in  American  cheese.  The  dairymen  of 
this  country  possess  the  most  advantageous  position  of  any 
class  of  dairymen  in  the  world.  For  years  their  milch  cattle 
have  been  bred  toward  the  extinction  of  beef  characteristics, - 
and  toward  the  fostering  and  enlargement  of  lacteal  tenden- 
cies, until  now,  in  point  of  blood,  the  general  average  is  high. 
Intelligence,  skilled  labor  and  ingenuity  are  at  command  and 
should  so  leaven  the  products  of  our  dairies  that  they  should 
stand  above  all  competitors.  Then,  why  be  "Penny  wise  and 
pound  foolish,"  when  so  grand  a  prize  as  national  trade  repu- 


tation  is  at  stake  ?  Cheese  manufacturers,  employ  only  the 
miost  experienced  and  careful  help  obtainable,  and  be  willing 
to  pay  them  liberally  for  their  services.  Look  only  to  the 
quality  of  your  cheese  and  let  the  ratio  take  care  of  itself. 
No  matter  if  it  takes  eleven  or  twelve  pounds  of  milk  to  pro- 
duce a  pound  of  cheese,  provided  that  cheese  is  gilt-edged  in 
every  particular.  Use  nothing  but  first-class  material,  from 
the  rennet,  coloring  matter  and  salt  that  goes  into  the  cheese 
to  the  scale  board  and  the  box  that  covers  it.  Let  the  for- 
eign demand  wane  if  it  wants  to — we  know  how  to  relish 
good  cheese  here  at  home  just  as  well  as  our  English  brothers, 
and,  in  the  future,  we  are  going  to  consume  more  of  the  pro- 
duct/:)e?'  capita^  too. 


HOME-MADE  CHEESE. 


Exhaustive  rules  for  manufacturing  cheese  on  a  small 
scale  at  home  occasionally  go  the  rounds  of  the  agricultural 
press.  Some  of  them  contain  ideas  of  real  merit  and  some 
do  not.  All  middle-aged  people  who  have  in  younger  days 
lived  in  localities  where  dairying  reached  even  modest  pre- 
tensions can  recall  the  sweet-savored  cheese  room,  an  adjunct 
of  the  kitchen,  whose  furnishing  of  primitive  milk  utensils 
was  then  considered  ample  for  the  housewife's  use.  Associ- 
ated dairies  or  factories  soon  came  upon  the  stage,  and  their 
vast  superiority  of  method,  coupled  with  the  adoption  of  the 
Cheddar  system,  marked  an  era  in  cheese  improvement,  which 
said  in  effect,  if  not  in  words,  that  "  home  dairy  cheese  must 
go."  The  innovation  of  factories  undermined  and  swept  out 
of  existence  this  small  fry  of  amateur  production,  because 
home  dairymen  would  not  or  could  not  adopt  the  cheddar 
improvement  and  manipulate  their  milk  with  skilled  labor. 
Dairies  associated  together  under  factory  regime  facilitated 
such  an  easy  and  quick  disposal  of  one's  milk,  and   at   such   a 


—48— 

greatly  enhanced  profit,  that  the  obvious  convenience  and 
economy  of  the  new  order  of  things,  more  than  any  inimical 
characteristic  it  possessed,  pulled  down  the  one  and  set  up 
the  other.  It  matters  not,  though,  to  consumers  in  America 
or  England,  whether  the  cheese  they  eat  is  made  under  the 
roof  of  a  farm  house  on  a  small  scale,  or  in  a  mammoth 
factory  on  a  large  one,  provided  the  quality  is  good.  But 
there  are  serious  drawbacks  about  making  up  milk  in  diminu- 
tive quantity  that  are  hard  to  overcome.  Let  us  discuss 
them  and  analyze  their  leading  features  : 

I  think  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  not  one  person  out  of  fifty 
who  attempts  to  make  home  dairy  cheese  to-day  but  will  manu- 
facture it  just  as  his  fathers  did  fifty  years  ago.  In  their 
minds  the  whole  process  is  covered  by  coapjulation  of  the 
milk,  quick  cooking  of  the  curd,  salting  it  and  pressing  it. 
There  is  no  thought  of  having  the  milk  moderately  mature, 
the  curd  thoroughly  cooked  and  then  properly  soured,  and  the 
salt  judiciously  applied.  The  amateur  knows  nothing  about 
the  fine  yet  necessary  points  of  manufacture,  and  so  his  cheese 
lacks  the  fine  but  requisite  points  of  quality  to  insure  it  trade 
recognition.  We  all  like  good  cheese  to  eat,  but  in  this  coun- 
try, thanks  to  the  skimmer,  it  is  getting  so  that  the  good  arti- 
cle is  very  scarce  and  promises  to  be  scarcer  if  the  skimmer's 
relations  with  the  factory  are  not  soon  done  away  with. 

A  great  many  readers  who  live  in  non-cheese  manufactur- 
ing districts  appreciate  mellow,  rich  cheese  when  they  some- 
times at  long  intervals  find  it  on  their  groceryman's  counter, 
and  vow  that  they  would  eat  the  article  more  if  the  price  was 
cheapened  and  the  general  quality  raised.  You  should,  if 
you  live  a  hundred  miles  or  so  from  any  factory,  and  if  you 
have  a  few  cows  and  your  neighbor  has  a  few  more,  club  to- 
gether and  make  up  some  cheese  for  your  own  use.  You  have 
a  vivid  remembrance  of  how  your  mother  used  to  manage  it 
years  ago.     Discard  the  wooden  tub  that   she   used,  for  now 


—49— 
we  have  tin  vessels  that  are  far  preferable.  Get  two  or 
three  hundred  pounds  of  milk  together,  if  possible,  but  do  not 
rob  it  of  a  bit  of  cream — keep  that  well  worked  into  the  fluid.- 
Have  a  heavy  bottomed  tin  box  with  round  corners,  made^ 
at  the  tinner's,  one  that  is  so  shaped  that  it  will  fit  into  a  large 
caldron  kettle  and  yet  leave  a  couple  of  inches  of  space  be- 
tween its  outside  surface  and  the  iron  sides  of  the  kettle. 
This  space  is  for  water,  which  should  be  used  as  the  best 
conductor  to  raise  the  temperature  of  the  milk.  8et  the  kettle 
in  a  brick  or  stone  arch,  in  which  kindle  a  slow  fire.  With 
the  tin  vessel  filled  with  milk,  and  water  about  it  in  the 
way  described,  you  have  a  cheese  vat  in  miniature.  Have  a 
thermometer  handy.  Stir  the  milk  often  and  do  not  let  it  get 
above  85*^'  before  setting.  Draw  the  fire  out  before  it  has  fairly 
reached  that  temperature,  as  the  after  heat  will  raise  it  a  de- 
gree or  two.  Do  not  trust  to  your  knowledge  of  the  strength 
of  rennet.  Buy  some  rennetine  and  carefully  follow  directions 
as  to  the  amount  necessary  to  coagulate  100  pounds  of  milk. 
Work  the  rennet  in  thoroughly  and  then  cover  the  little  "vat" 
up  with  a  piece  of  sheeting.  It  is  very  important  to  have  just 
enough  rennet  as  too  much  or  too  little  will  spoil  the  cheese. 
Have  your  tinner  make  you  two  curd  knives,  one  with  perpen- 
dicular and  the  other  with  horizontal  blades.  When  the  coag- 
ulated milk  will  break  squarely  over  the  finger,  and  whey  be- 
gins to  start  around  the  edges,  cut  it  quite  finely  with  the 
knives,  using  first  the  perpendicular  and  then  the  horizontal 
one.  Raise  the  temperature  slowly,  not  to  100^  or  110°,  bat 
to  a  point  where  the  curd  is  thoroughly  cooked  but  not  to  dry- 
ness. Stir  the  curd  and  whey  up  at  frequent  intervals  to  keep 
it  from  packing.  Do  not  hustle  it  into  the  press  now  just  be- 
cause you  have  it  cooked,  unless  it  is  sour.  Remember  that 
the  curd  must  mature,  or,  in  other  words,  generate  acid. 
Therein  lies  the  future  good  quality  of  the  cheese.  Do  not 
rely  on  your  olfactory  sense  to  gauge  the  sourness.     Press  a 


—50— 

little  piece  of  the  curd  against  a  hot  iron.  When  it  pulls  out 
strings  one-half  of  an  inch  long  in  spring,  one  inch  long  in 
midsummer  and  one-half  inch  in  fall,  it  is  sour  enough  to  be 
salted.  Have  the  whey  all  dipped  off  and  the  curd  drained 
before  it  has  reached  a  maturity  sufficient  to  salt.  Do  not 
«alt  in  hot  weather  higher  than  one-fourth  of  a  pound  to  a 
liundred  pounds  of  milk,  and  in  spring  and  fall  less.  As  you 
liave,  at  the  most,  only  a  little  curd  to  manipulate,  do  not  let  it 
get  cold  but  put  it  in  the  hoop  at  a  temperature  of  at  least 
To*^.  Do  not  try  to  save  over  curd  for  another  batch  the  next 
day.  Better  have  two  twenty-pound  cheese  in  two  days  than 
one  forty-pounder  during  the  same  time.  You  cannot  graft 
new  curd  onto  old  without  lowering  the  quality  of  the  whole. 
After  you  have  a  curd  in  the  hoop  do  not  try  to  press  it  with 
stone  weights  because  there  is  so  little  of  it.  Have  a  small 
press  frame  and  a  screw  for  that  purpose.  These  small  cheese 
will  cure  quickly.  Keep  the  ends  well  oiled,  and  lay  them  on 
a  shelf  in  a  warm  room,  where  they  should  be  turned  and 
rubbed  every  day. 

The  foregoing  pointers  are  intended  for  persons  who  have 
some  previous  knowledge  of  making  dairy  cheese,  and,  there- 
fore, minute  details  of  explanation  have  not  been  given.  The 
trouble  with  most  home  dairy  makers  is  that  they  do  not 
realize  the  importance  of  souring  the  curd,  and  so  make  weak, 
off-flavored,  perishable  stock. 


OCTOBER  CHEESE. 


How  ARE  WE  to  make  as  good  ch-eese  in  October  as  we 
have  been  turning  out  in  September?  This  is  the  mental 
query  that  will  sometimes  arise  in  the  minds  of  makers  whose 
experience  is  not  measured  by  length  of  years.  A  one-twelfth 
turn  of  the  wheel  of  the  yearly  chronological  table  ought  not 
to  produce  such  a  vast  change  in  lacteal  affairs  as  to  exert  a 


—51— 
radical  change  in  the  manufacturing  process.  Of  course,  the 
artificial  subdivisions  of  the  season  would  be  of  but  small 
moment  in  the  case  if  they  were  not  to  a  certain  extent 
analogous  to  natural  atmospheric  changes.  As  September 
wanes  into  October  the  summer  is  insidiously  but  surely 
attaining  its  maturity.  The  grass  roots  having  in  a  prolific 
manner  fulfilled  their  annual  mission,  fail  to  send  forth  the 
tender  blade  of  earlier  months.  Blighting  frosts  sear  the 
pastures  and  sap  the  succulence  from  the  feed.  It  is  but 
natural  that  such  an  alteration  in  climatic  influence  should 
leave  its  effect  on  the  milk.  It  is  a  maxim  of  cheese  making 
that  you  must  work  milk  according  to  its  condition,  not 
expecting  one  invariable  rule  to  cover  the  whole  science,  but 
keeping  in  mind  numberless  distinct  methods  of  treatment, 
for  instant  application  as  exigencies  arise. 

As  a  general  thing,  less  acid  is  deemed  necessary  for  the 
October  make  than  was  applied  to  the  September  product.  I 
believe  that  in  making  this  important  change  the  majority  of 
manufacturers  are  too  abrupt  in  method  and  reduce  the 
standard  of  ripeness  prematurely  in  point  of  time.  A  certain 
amount  of  acid  is  necessary  to  impart  flavor  and  insure  good 
keeping  qualities,  hence  more  of  it  is  required  in  hot  weather 
than  in  cold,  as  a  defense  against  high  temperature.  Many 
think  that  as  soon  as  the  hot  days  are  passed  the  need  of  an 
advanced  curd  maturity  is  passed  also,  and  make  almost  sweet 
cheese.  If  there  is  any  thing  that  is  fraught  with  dire 
consequences  in  cheese  making,  it  is  extremes  practiced  in 
the  tnodiis  operandi.  Avoid  anything  so  derogatory  and  let 
conservatism  characterize  your  movements.  Despite  seasons 
and  weather,  and  climate,  we  have  got  to  apply  just  so  much 
acid  to  cheese  to  make  it  palatable  and  mellow,  and  if  the 
product  is  liable  to  encounter  crucial  weather  enough  more 
sourness  to  retain  the  flavor  established  is  imperative.  But 
what  weakens  fall  goods  is  that  in  decreasing  the  acid  scale 


—52— 

in  view  of  cold  weather  ahead  the  retrograde  is  pushed 
beyond  its  own  needs  and  infringes  on  the  quality  of  the 
cheese.  In  their  zeal  to  have  the  standard  just  right,  I  have 
known  old  makers  to  produce  a  lot  of  weak  October  cheese 
before  they  realized  where  the  trouble  was.  Better  have  a 
little  fullness  of  acid  on  fall  stock  than  not  enough.  "Doctor, 
why  is  it  that  you  always  buy  a  late  fall  cheese  for  winter 
family  use  ?  "  was  asked  one  of  the  medical  fraternity  by  a 
factory  employee  as  he  delivered  a  forty  pounder  at  his  door. 
"We  have  in  my  estimation  far  better  goods  on  the  shelves 
made  in  August  and  September,  and  the  price  is  the  same." 
"  Well,  you  see,  young  man,"  said  the  Doctor,  pouring  some 
quinine  into  a  vial,  "  I  have  a  notion  that  late  fall  cheese  is 
healthier;  the  milk  is  no  richer,  perhaps,  than  in  September 
but  the  air  is  cool  and  pure,  and,  of  course,  you  know  what 
a  debilitating  effect  heat  waves  and  miasmatic  atmospheric 
currents  have  on  milk.  Well,  the  less  poison  there  is  in  the 
air,  the  less  there  will  be  in  the  milk  and  subsequently  in  the 
cheese,  consequently  my  choice."  I  believe  the  man  of  pills 
argued  in  the  right  direction  there,  but  then  there  is  happily 
a  way  of  expugning  from  the  curd  infections  absorbed  by  the 
milk  from  the  atmosphere,  namely,  airing. 

The  most  diabolical  enemy  of  October  cheese  is  the  skim- 
mer. In  factories  where  that  is  unused  there  is  a  clear  field 
for  developing  fine  stock,  but  there  is  no  concealing  the  fact 
that  all  attempts  to  smooth  over  the  impoverishing  effects  of 
its  use  by  the  most  skilled  treatment  are  futile  and  unavailing. 
If  all  of  the  good  endeavor  to  make  mellow,  rich  cheese  out 
of  substance  that  is  but  dross  was  expended  in  divorcing  the 
illegitimate  union  of  creamery  and  cheese  factory,  incalcula- 
ble benefit  would  accrue  to  dairy  interetes. 

This  month  avoid  cold  draughts  through  the  make-room 
during  the  scalding  process,  as  a  vat  presents  a  large  surface 
for  a  current  of  air  to  exert  a  chilling  effect  upon.     Be  sure 


—53— 

and  cook  the  curd  enough.  There  is  a  vast  amount  of  fall 
made  cheese  that  comes  to  grief  through  insufficient  scalding. 
If  you  do  not  bake  a  loaf  of  bread  thoroughly,  you  have  a 
doughy  and  unpalatable  article  of  food,  and  if  curd  is  not 
cooked  until  it  has  passed  the  raw  state,  it  will  retain  a  certain 
quantity  of  whey  and  damage  the  product  on  the  shelves. 
This  is  the  cause  of  strong-flavored,  flabby-textured  cheese. 
A  gentleman  of  long  experience  in  the  trade  has  said  :  "  The 
truth  is,  as  it  is  difficult  to  cure  cheese  in  cold  weather,  it 
ought  to  be  cooked  more  than  will  answer  in  hot  weather,  and 
sour  less,  as  the  tendency  is  to  acidulation  in  a  cool  atmosphere, 
in  consequence  of  the  moisture  not  drying  out  soon  enough." 
To  this  we  can  append  the  suggestion  of  never  trying  to  cure  a 
cheese  in  a  cool  atmosphere,  for  the  result  will  be  a  failure. 
A  cheese  cannot  help  but  grow  old  in  a  cold  room  but  it  'will 
never  cure. 


A  SIGNIFICANT  REPORT. 


A  recent  issue  of  the  Utica  Herald  contains  the  following: 

A  Xew  York  gentleman,  who  has  recently  returned  from 
Liverpool,  writes  to  a  friend  in  this  city  and  reports  the  situa- 
tion healthy  on  the  other  side,  but  says  New  York  State 
cheese  are  done  for  as  far  as  fine  cheese  goes.  It  is  the  same 
old  trouble  we  have  mentioned  time  and  again,  too  much 
cheese  to  the  pound  of  milk — no  body.  Canada,  and  even 
New  Zealand,  are  taking  the  trade  of  fine  cheese  from  the 
States.  Our  factory  men  will  wake  up  to  the  fact  some  day 
and  find  their  goods  are  only  second  class.  In  fact,  it  is 
about  so  now.  New  York  State  cheese  sell  under  Canada  all 
the  way  from  ^  (g  Ic.  a  pound.  We  have  preached  this  a 
long  while  but  it  is  beginning  to  to  be  realized  now.  This 
accounts  for  the  large  shipments  from  Canada  during  the  last 
two  months,  and  the  small  ones  from  here. 

Cheese  industry  is  not  yet  of  sufficient  magnitude  to 
exert   any  marked   influence   on   the  European  markets,   but 


—54— 
as  the  dairy  iudustry  is  constantly  expanding  here,  and 
the  State's  product  must  stand  on  its  own  merits,  it  behooves 
manufacturers  to  avoid  the  pit  that  their  brothers  of  the  Em- 
pire State  have  inadvertently  stumbled  into.  We  consume 
a  large  amount  of  cheese  here  at  home,  and  why  are  not  our 
stomachs  as  worthy  to  be  catered  to  as  are  the  digestive  recep- 
tacles of  our  English  cousins  across  the  pond?  Yet  there  is 
no  alarm  in  cheese  circles  as  to  deteriorated  quality  until 
British  buyers  find  something  that  suits  them  better  and  for 
which  they  are  willing  to  pay  more.  Truly  cheese-eating  New 
Yorkers  are  a  very  patient  people.  We  have  before  us  the 
file  of  a  leading  American  cheese  report  of  1868 — twenty 
years  ago.  It  says  :  "  We  are  behind  the  Canadians  as  re- 
gards firmness,  but  ahead  of  them  in  point  of  flavor.  The 
same  relation  exists  between  American  and  Swedish  cheese  ; 
also,  between  American  and  English  cheese,  and  other  Euro- 
pean makes,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  of  the  best  English 
brands,  which  are  equal  if  not  superior  to  our  finest  grades, 
as  regards  flavor,  and  superior  in  fineness  and  firmness  of  tex- 
ture." This  was  America's  prestige  a  score  of  years  ago. 
Why  has  it  not  been  sustained  ?  The  cause  is  clear  to  the 
most  obdurate.  Producers  supposed  their  cheese  supreme  in 
the  English  markets  and  have  been  abusing  an  established 
trade  reputation  with  impunity.  Their  folly  is  now  apparent, 
and  the  question  naturally  arises,  Will  they  play  the  role  of 
the  prodigal  son  and  return  to  a  path  of  trade  rectitude  ? 
That  implies  that  the  banns  that  unite  the  creamery  and  the 
cheese  factory  be  irrevocably  severed — send  the  skimmer 
higher  than  Gilroy's  kite,  as  it  were.  The  American  people 
can  appreciate  good  cheese  just  as  well  as  the  English.  We 
want  good  butter,  too,  but  not  at  the  cost  of  the  cheese  quali- 
ty. That  is  not  necessary,  and  a  few  years  ago  we  did  not 
deem  it  so,  either.  Why  should  there  be  a  tendency  in  that 
direction  now?     We   are   now  better   equipped  in  every  de- 


—55— 
partment  to  send  out  better  cheese  than  we  did  in  1868,  yet 
notice  the  difference  in  the  two  reports  quoted.  We  are  bet- 
ter equipped,  because  we  have  more  scientific  appliances  for 
handling  miik.  Our  milk  is  better,  because  the  pastures  are 
improved,  and  a  finer  grade  of  stock  feeds  upon  them. 
Makers  of  to-day  who  rely  on  the  accumulated  cheese  wisdom 
handed  down  through  two  decades  of  experience  should  be 
rich  enough  in  knowledge  to  at  least  not  retrograde  from  the 
standard  of  1868.  Let  us  for  one  moment  lay  reform  in  the 
tariff,  and  reform  in  the  civil  service  on  the  table  and  talk, 
think  and  act  about  reform  in  cheese.  Michigan  always  takes 
a  front  seat  when  reformation  of  any  kind  is  agitated.  We 
are  satisfied  she  will  not  take  a  back  seat  now.  There  has 
probably  not  been  such  a  tendency  in  this  State  as  in  other 
localities  to  rob  milk  at  both  ends  and  on  the  sides  before  it 
is  suffered  to  coagulate  in  cheese,  but  let  us  smother  what 
infection  there  is  before  it  becomes  an  establisted  blight  on 
the  Wolverine  product.  We  are  satisfied  that  our  dairymen 
are  alive  to  their  interests  here,  and  will  not  drift  away  from 
safe  anchorage.  A  shipping  cheese  requires  more  body,  or, 
in  other  words,  more  acid  and  firmness  than  a  cheese  de- 
signed for  home  consumption.  This  is  partly  due  to  the  fact 
that  such  a  quality  is  demanded  by  European  consumers  and 
partly  because  an  ocean  voyage  necessitates  it.  It  takes  more 
milk  to  make  such  cheese,  and  less  milk  to  produce  the  softer 
and  more  perishable  home  trade  goods.  In  thrusting  the 
cheaper  article  on  the  foreign  market.  New  Yorkers  have 
staked  a  hazardous  venture  and  lost.  Nothing  is  said  about 
the  skimmer,  but  it  get  in  its  insidious  work  all  the  same — 
not  under  full  cream  brands,  probably.  We  do  not  insinuate 
that,  but  the  markets  are  crowded  with  night  and  flat  skims, 
occupying  space  that  should  be  filled  with  richer  goods. 
Skims  are  sent  over  to  England  when  they  really  want  full 
cream.       Canada    and   New   Zealand   step    in    with    a   fine 


—56— 

quality  of  the  latter  brand,  and  they  take  it  even  in  preference 
to  the  States'  best  offering.  We  hold  skimmed  cheese  greatly 
responsible  for  the  trade  depression  under  which  the  Ameri- 
can article  is  now  laboring.  It  is  high  time  that  the  dry, 
hard  stuff  was  known  no  more  in  all  the  earth. 


PREPARED  RENNET  AND  COLOR. 


The  value  to  the  cheese  trade  of  scientifically  prepared 
rennet  and  annotto  color  cannot  be  over  estimated.  Rennet 
extract,  and  one  quality  annottoine,  are  not  in  general  use,  but 
they  should  be.  With  the  home  prepared  infusion  of  both 
articles,  we  have  a  thousand  diverse  shades  of  quality  and  de- 
grees of  strength,  and,  worst  of  all,  they  are  often  applied  to 
the  milk,  hit  or  miss.  The  result  is  unevenness  in  cheese  qual- 
ity and  color,  where  theie  should  be  perfect  uniformity. 
We  advise  all  makers  to  renounce  as  fast  as  practicable  the 
old,  often  unsatisfactory  method  of  soaking  rennet  skins,  and 
steeping  annotto  seed,  and  adopt  reliably  prepared  extracts  of 
these  essential  cheese  ino-redients. 


CHEESE  THAT  HUFF. 


A  C400D,  properly  manufactured  cheese  will  never  huff  up 
on  the  surface,  or  swell  the  bandage  to  the  point  of  pro- 
tuberance. Cheese  often  huff  slightly  when  curing,  and 
afterward  flatten  into  a  smooth,  firm  surface,  but  they  are 
never  No.  1  stock.  The  writer  can  remember  fifteen  years 
back  when  makers  did  not  understand  working  gaseous  curds 
as  they  do  now.  Sales  and  shipments  were  far  between  then, 
and  cheese  accumulated  in  great  numbers  in  factories.  It 
was  no  uncommon  thing  m  the  years  '73  and  '74,  in  passing 
through  a  curing  room  containing  500  or  600  cheese,  to  find 
a  large   percentage   of  the      umber    covered    with    immense 


—57— 

blisters,  that  held  in  retention  offensive  smelling  gases. 
Every  day  the  maker  would  lance  these  unhealthy  swellings 
with  a  wire  or  goose  quill,  only  to  have  them  shortly  after 
bulge  out  in  another  place.  Besides  these  partially  affected 
cheese,  there  were  often  days'  makes  of  those  that  would  huff 
all  over,  swell  out  like  huge  puff  balls  till  a  slight  jar  would 
have  rolled  them  from  the  shelves.  These  were  the  product 
of  floating  curds  with  the  gas  all  left  in.  A  decade  and  a 
half  ago  farmers  did  not  take  the  same  care  of  their  milk 
that  they  do  now.  They  were  not  versed  in  dairy  literature 
to  any  extent,  and  did  not  see  the  importance  of  speedily 
expelling  animal  heat  from  milk  or  of  always  furnishing  their 
cows  with  wholesome  drinking  water.  Hence,  tainted  milk 
was  more  often  the  rule  than  the  exception.  With  the  pres- 
ent bettered  quality  of  milk  and  the  improved  skill  of  makers 
in  handling  it,  inflative  cheese  ought  to  now  be  foreign  to  the 
curing  room.  Bad  taints  are  at  present  seldom  met  with, 
but  slight  ones  creep  in  unawares,  unless  the  maker  is  vigilant, 
and  then  it  is  his  business  to  eradicate  the  ill-savor.  Sour 
until  acid  has  completely  overcome  the  gas,  grind  twice,  and 
give  the  curd  a  prolonged  airing  by  frequent  stirring.  Try 
the  prolonged  stirring  on  common  curds  that  are  hot — too 
hot  to  go  immediately  to  press  —  and  notice  how  it  will 
enhance  the  flavor  of  the  cheese. 


FACTORY  UTENSILS. 


As  a  maker,  I  have  had  opportunities  of  seeing  milk  in  all 
stages  and  in  all  conditions,  and  I  have  found  it  an  invariable 
rule  that  the  milk  furnished  by  farmers  who  read  and  studied 
the  dairy  question  in  all  of  its  phases;  who  were  conversant 
with  dairy  literature  and  adopted  the  most  improved  methods 
extant  for  producing  an  abundant,  pure  and  rich  flow  of  milk, 
were  enough  affected  by  the  ideas  absorbed  from  library  and 


—58— 

press  to  be  unconsciously  moulded  by  their  influence.  On  the 
other  hand,  farmers  who  never  read;  who  avoided  all  progres- 
sive methods  as  "new-fangled  notions"  and  clung  to  the  pri- 
mitive ways  of  their  ancestors,  forgetful  that  those  ancestors 
adopted  nothing  new  because  there  was  no  new  thing  to 
adopt,  furnished  milk  sometimes  good,  often  poor,  and  never 
profitable  to  themselves.  A  man  who  doesn't  have  an  opinion 
on  the  relative  value  of  milch  breeds,  who  does't  know  how 
to  feed  scientifically  and  who  has  narrow  conceptions  of  sys- 
tematic dairying,  generally  is,  in  this  competitive  epoch,  an 
agricultural  cipher. 

The  other  day  the  writer  inspected  two  cheese  factories, 
separated  by  only  a  few  miles,  each  being  located  on  admir- 
able sites  and  accessible  to  water.     Previous  to  my  visit  I  had 

been  told  that  the  maker  in  B 's  factory  had,   during  the 

past  season,  produced  poor,  uneven  stock,  which  was  a  sur- 
prise to  his  friends,  as  his  trade  reputation  was  excellent.     On 

the  other  hand,  I  knew  that  the  cheese  from  W s  factory, 

although  manufactured  by  a  man  of  less  experience  than  his 
rival,  had  sold  at  prices  above  the  former's  and  footed  up  a 
lower  ratio.  As  soon  as  I  had  seen  the  interior  of  each  build- 
ing the  sequel  was  made  plain  to  me,  and  subsequent  investi- 
gation proved  it.  The  first  named  factory  was  a  mere  shell, 
furnished  with  utensils  both  primitive  and  worn  out;  the 
second  was  a  tight,  plastered  structure  and  equipped  with  all 
of  the  paraphernalia  essential  to  a  modern  cheese  building. 
The  competition  was  like  running  a  pony  express  against  a 
United  States  mail  train. 

A  cheese  factory  needs  good,  improved  utensils,  just  the 
same  as  a  farm  requires  machinery  of  the  latest  patterns.  It 
should  have  a  boiler,  because  steam  heating  is  cheaper,  more 
under  control  and,  consequently,  safer  for  scalding  than  where 
fire  under  heating  is  employed.  It  should  be  furnished  with 
a  curd  mill,  because  with  one  the  maker  has  the  acid  almost 


—59— 

completely  under  control.  Without  a  mill,  the  whey  must 
be  retained  until  nearly  enough  acid  has  developed  to  meet 
the  requisite  gauge.  Then  it  must  be  hastily  drawn  and  hast- 
ily salted,  with  the  whey  not  all  out  of  it;  too  often  the  acid 
is  in  advance  of  the  maker's  expectations.  Cheese  made  in 
this  way  from  day  to  day  cannot  help  but  be  uneven  in  flavor, 
in  salt  and  in  acid.  "Salting  in  the  whey,"  as  it  is  called, 
without  a  mill  is  wasteful,  too.  As  the  whey  flows  off,  the 
constant  tendency  of  the  curd  is  to  pack,  and  hand  manipula- 
tion to  prevent  this  will  start  white  whey,  the  life  blood  of 
the  cheese,  in  wasteful  quantities.  With  a  mill  to  use,  all 
this  is  changed.  They  whey  can  be  drawn  when  but  very 
little  acid  has  appeared,  and  the  curd,  packed  and  drained, 
waits  for  the  sourness  to  develop  there.  It  matures  more 
slowly  than  when  submerged  in  whey,  and  when  the  right 
point  is  reached  the  iron  teeth  of  the  mill  attack  it  and  tear 
it  up  and  salt  it  when  in  a  dry  state,  which  is  a  great  advan- 
tage. The  make-room  should  be  supplied  with  a  gang  press 
and  patent  hoops,  because  one  screw  will  compress  a  dozen 
cheese  and  solidify  them  more  firmly  than  old  fashioned  sin- 
gle screws.  A  good  cheese  can  be  spoiled  after  it  is  in  the 
hoop  by  insufficient  pressing. 

I  consider  the  latest  milk  handling  devices  almost  as  essen- 
tial in  a  modern  factory  or  creamery  as  the  practical  know- 
ledge of  the  maker.  Not  merely  for  labor  savipg  purposes 
should  manufactories  be  so  supplied,  but  because  the  demands 
of  present  trade  require  dairy  products  of  a  complexion  diffi- 
cult to  attain  without.  It  is  a  "penny  wise  and  pound  foolish" 
policy  to  scantily  furnish  a  butter  or  cheese  plant  when  there- 
by the  loss  on  one  under  price  sale  would  have  more  than 
covered  the  deficiency  in  tools. 


TO    CHEESE    MAKERS. 

The  main  point  why  Canadian  cheese  is  lately  quoted  higher  than 
American  is  that  they  are  ahead  of  us  on  Uiuiforillity.  To  obtain 
this  a  uniform  Rennet  and  a  uniform  Color  are  most  essential.  No  matter 
how  careful  the  maker  is,  he  can  never  get  it  as  uniform  as  our 

Clir.  Hansen's  Rennet  Extract 


CHEESE  COLOR. 

Taking  into  account  the  poor  Rennets  in  the  market,  the  saving  by 
making  your  own  Extract  is  very  small ;  and  as  to  Cheese  Color,  even  if 
you  did  save  60  cents  a  gallon  it  would  only  cost  you  5  centS  more  tO 
color  1000  pounds  of  cheese,  a  mere  nothing  if  ours  is  at  all  more 
uniform  and  of  a  more  natural  shade,  bright,  clean,  Creamy,  and 
not  dull  reddish. 

Consider  this,  and  give  our  Extract  and  Color  a  fair  trial. 

If  you  prefer  Rennet  in  dry  shape   try   our   Rennet  Tablets,  which   are 
quite  as  cheap  and  a  great  deal  handier  to  use  than  powder. 
Send  for  Price  List  to 

CHR.  HANSEN'S  LABORATORY, 

(Little  Falls,  N.  Y.,)  or 

17  Dearborn  Street,       -        CHICAGO,  ILL. 


J.  D.  Frederiksen,  Esq.,  Brockville,  Ont.,  July  17,  1886. 

Chr.  Hansen's  Laboratory,  Little  Falls,  N.  Y.: 
Dear  Sir — Your  Rennet  and   Color  are   positively  the  finest  that  have 
ever  been  introduced  into  this  section.      I  know  this  personally.      Our  cheese 
are  finer  this  year  than  ever  before  in  consequence  of  using  those  goods. 
Yours  respectfully, 

D.   DERBYSHIRE,   Pres't  E.  O.  D.  A. 


CREAMERY,  CHEESE  FACTORY  AND 
DAIRY 

MACHINERI  AND  SUPPLIES. 


D.  H.  ROE  &  CO., 

CHICAGO,  ILL., 

CARRY  A   FULL   LINE  OF  ALL   KINDS  OF  SUPPLIES,  SUCH   AS 

Butter  Cloth,  Cheese  Cloth,  Cloth  Circles, 

RENNET  EXTRACT,  RENNET    TABLETS,  CHEESE 

COLOR,  BUTTER  COLOR,  CHEESE  GREASE, 

SALT,  BUTTER    TUBS,  CHEESE 

BOXES,    CHEESE    BOX 

STOCK,  &c.,  &c. 

ALSO  A   FULL   LINE  OF 

Cream   Vats,    Milk   Vats,    Self  Heating   Vats,    Chiirns, 
Steam  Boilers,  Steam  Engines,  Separators, 
Cheese  Presses,  Butter  Printers, 
Etc.,    Etc.,    Etc. 

Send  for  Price  List,  and  mention  the  "Hand-Book." 


Acknowledged  to  be  the  only  proper  CHEESE  DRESSING  on  the  market. 
MamifacUired  only  by   B .  J .  JOHNSON    &   CO., 

MILWAUKEE,   WIS. 


THE  /MDHIBP  D/IIRYAP. 

Official     Organ     of     the     Michigan     Dairynnans 
Association. 

50  CENTS  PER  YEAR  IN  ADYANCE. 

Sam-pie  Copies  sent  Free. 
Address  the  Puhli slier s, 

E.   A.    STOWE   &   BRO., 

O-rand.  E.apid.s,      -      -      3>Ii<rlaiga.in.. 


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